


What Happens in New York, Stays in New York (or how the new directions learn that coincidences are the spice of life)

by personalgarbagepile



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, But also, Canon Compliant, Crack, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Found Family, Growing Pains, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Referenced Non-Consensual Kissing, Season 3 isn't really canon either, Season 4 AU, blaine doesnt go to mckinley, will is only in it for like one chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:27:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 35,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26317171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/personalgarbagepile/pseuds/personalgarbagepile
Summary: When the New Directions find out that they are all going to New York after graduating, they decide to buy an apartment together. It goes more or less as one would expect.
Relationships: Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel, Rachel Berry/Finn Hudson, Sam Evans/Mercedes Jones, Santana Lopez/Brittany S. Pierce, Tina Cohen-Chang/Quinn Fabray
Comments: 13
Kudos: 53





	1. Prologue

Rachel has finally lost it. That’s the only logical conclusion Kurt could come up with. She has lost all barings on what is realistic and her fantasy is starting to infect everyone else. 

When she had ambushed him at his locker two minutes ago and begun outlining her plan for them to move to New York together, he had thought she was joking. 

_ Maybe _ she had become more bearable in the past couple of years, and  _ maybe _ he would call her his friend, but there was absolutely no way he could  _ live with her _ , especially in a city where he knew no one else. There would be nowhere to escape to.

Without even waiting for him to reply, she finished her rant with a quick, “You know where to find me,” over her shoulder and walked away, head high. 

Kurt had stood there frozen for a couple seconds before slamming his locker shut and turning on his heel. 

He jogged past Tina and Quinn on his way to the cafeteria. Both of them flashed him a smile and waved. 

He waved back but didn’t stop to talk. There was no time. 

He found Mercedes waiting outside the cafeteria door. Her smile faded as she took in the crazed look in his eye. Kurt grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the crowd. 

She let out a startled, “Hey!” but didn’t otherwise protest. 

“I need you to help me,” Kurt started, breathing fast. 

“Always,” Mercedes said without hesitation. 

“I’m freaking out. Rachel just offered to live with me.”

“Oh,” Mercedes shrugged. She was a lot more relaxed than he thought she would be. 

“What’s the problem?”

“The problem? She’s insufferable. I can’t live with her.”

“Then tell her no?”

Kurt sighed and leaned back on the lockers. “I don’t know if I can. She’ll be the only person in New York that I know. My dad already told me that if I move there, I’ll need to pay for most of the rent. Even if I find a job, I can’t afford rent on my own. What if she is my only chance?” He started breathing heavier. “I can’t move there without a plan.”

Mercedes held up a hand. “Ok, first of all, you need to take a breath. This is the most I’ve ever seen you worked up and it’s over Rachel Berry.”

Kurt calmed his breathing and then nodded.

“Second, we can figure this out. You didn’t get into NYADA, so you can’t dorm there, and you are technically not a college student, so you can’t stay at student housing.”

“This isn’t helpful.”

“Give me a second. I’m working through everything I’ve researched.”

His heart leapt a bit. “Oh, so you’ve looked into moving to New York, too?”

“Of course, my dream is to be a famous singer. I have to move to one of the big cities if I want to get noticed. I applied to NYADA, too. You helped me rehearse, remember?”

An idea occurred to him. “Right...and you still haven’t heard back?”

“No.”

He stood up a little straighter.

Mercedes got defensive. “That doesn’t mean anything. I can almost guarantee I didn’t get in. It was a shot in the dark to prove to my parents that I’m a good enough singer that people take notice, but there’s no way I got in. It’s been days since you got your letter, and I still haven’t gotten mine.”

Kurt waved away her concerns. “Ok, but mine was bad news. Based on the blogs, hearing back early is almost always a bad sign. Rachel hasn’t gotten her letter yet either.” 

Mercedes scoffed. “Oh, please, I barely practiced. There wasn’t even any choreography in my routine.”

“There was none in Rachel’s either. Oh, I bet you got in Mercedes! I bet you got in and you will have to move to New York with me and Rachel.”

“I bet I didn’t. I bet that I won’t even get a letter.” 

“I’ll take that bet. If you win, I’ll take you out to Breadstix every night for a month.”

Mercedes considered this. “Deal. And if you win, I’ll split an apartment with you and Rachel.”

Kurt smiled feeling like he had already won.

* * *

It was their last Glee Club meeting, and Finn was feeling very nostalgic. He looked up at the lights glaring down on him, remembering all the times he had looked up at them in a post-performance haze. They didn’t warm him up like they used to. He looked down at Rachel sitting next to him. They had met here. If nothing else, at least he had one thing he got to take with him from this place. He looked back to Mr. Schue, who was lecturing about his hopes for them after high school.

They had all been invited to this seniors only meeting, so they could announce their plans following high school. 

Finn knew a few of them had already told each other. Quinn and Tina had even applied to all the same schools, hoping they could dorm together, but everyone else who got an acceptance letter has kept it a secret from the group so far, caught up in the drama of a group reveal. 

He also knew that Sam had applied to a couple of the same schools as him completely by accident. They had shared their college lists with one another after applying and were secretly hoping that they, too, could live together. 

Finn only wanted to get out of state. He had originally wanted to get as far from Ohio as possible, but when your girlfriend is insistent that you live close enough to visit on weekends, his choices became limited to state schools in and around New England. 

When Finn had gotten his acceptance letter to State University of New York, he knew it was the best news he could have gotten. It was cheap, had an excellent program for future teachers, and, most importantly, was within half an hour from NYADA. If Rachel got in, they could live together or at least see each other everyday. 

He scanned the auditorium. Everyone was sitting in a semicircle facing Mr. Schue. 

Rachel was sitting on his right, clutching a thick letter and practically vibrating. 

Beside her, Sam, Mike, Mercedes, Artie, Quinn, and Tina were also all holding opened letters. 

Quinn and Tina were whispering to each other excitedly and smiling so wide he couldn’t see the whites of their eyes. 

For Finn, it was almost abnormal to see Quinn this happy. She had never been like this when they were dating. 

Finn supposes it's because he’s not her type, as he had come to find out when Quinn announced that she is gay at the start of senior year. He had felt bad, thinking that their relationship had forced her into the closet. She assured him that it had taken being with him and with Puck to confirm to herself that she really wasn’t interested in boys. He thanked her for being his first love and they haven’t spoken about it since then. 

Looking at her now, he was almost proud of her. Based on her smile, she really was getting out of this town, and, based on her inability to take her eyes off Tina, she was getting out with someone she actually loved. 

Mercedes seemed torn. Her eyes were bright and her lips were turned up a bit at the corners, but the hand holding the letter was shaking. Finn noticed that Kurt kept side eyeing her, also smiling slightly, but forcing himself to be still, like he was willing himself not to get too excited. 

Artie, Sam, and Mike all seemed content. Not excited, really, but they all had self-satisfied smirks and a confident air. 

Santana, Brittany, Puck, and Kurt weren’t holding letters, but none of them looked upset. They seemed more nervous than everyone else, but not like they were scared, just unsure. 

Finn knew Kurt hadn’t gotten into NYADA. Kurt had been upset at first, but, after several long chats with Burt, seemed content with whatever decision they had come up with. 

Santana and Brittany were total wild cards. No one had any idea what was going on with them. Honestly, Finn was worried that they had no plans at all. Santana was ambitious, sure, but she didn’t have the direction nor the guidance and had told him in private that she wasn’t going to college and hadn’t even applied. 

Brittany had been very vague when asked about her future. She said that she would continue following her dream of being a successful talk show host who would follow Santana around wherever she went. Finn didn’t understand completely what this meant, but if she was implying that she was just going to continue her internet talk show for the rest of her life, he was dubious. The show was entertaining, but the only people who watched it consistently were the New Directions. 

Puck had shared with everyone weeks ago that he had found the perfect job and that it was basically what he did now but the ladies he worked for would be even richer. Finn had been concerned about what that meant, but, privately, he was really proud of him.

Finn tuned back in just as Mr. Schue was wrapping up his rant, congratulating everyone on making it through and wishing them the best. 

He gestured to Rachel.

“The floor is yours.”

* * *

“Well,” she stood up abruptly. “I have some very exciting news.”

Everyone stared at her blankly. Rachel let the tension build for a moment. She was pleased when Finn leaned in a little. 

“Well?” Mr. Schue asked.

She couldn’t keep it in any longer. “I got into NYADA. I’m going to New York!” Her smile was radiant.

It was a sign of how much her relationship with everyone had changed that they all started cheering and looked genuinely pleased for her. 

She took a little bow. “I know, I know. I got the letter last week. The only thing that would make this better is news that I’m not going alone.” 

She looked pointedly at Finn and Kurt. They looked at each other, silently arguing about who was going first. After a couple of seconds Kurt clapped his hands.

“Well–”

“I’ll go next.” Santana interrupted. She looked at Rachel. “You’re in luck, Longstocking. Britt and I are also going to New York.” 

* * *

Everyone’s eyes widened. 

“To do what exactly?” Mercedes asked. 

“We’re going to be famous.” Santana glanced at Brittany, who nodded along. “I’m going to be an actress. She’s interning at a radio station.”

“Broadway?” Rachel asked, scandalized.

Santana put her hand up. “Cool it, Berry, I don’t care about theatre. No, I’m taking classes at a private studio for a couple years. Then, we’re moving to California where the real actresses are.”

Rachel jerked back with a hand over her heart but didn’t say anything.

“I wanna be a talk show host,” Brittany added. “I’ll settle for a newscaster, though.”

Mr. Schue rubbed his hands together. “At least you have a solid foundation.”

Santana pursed her lips.

“Who wants to go next?”

“Wait!” Rachel said, staring at Santana. “Do you have a place to stay yet?”

“No,” Santana said. “We are still apartment searching.”

“Well–”

“Guys,” Mr. Schue interrupted. “I’m happy for all three of you, but I’m sure everyone else would like their turn. Who wants to go next?” 

“We got into Columbia University.”

* * *

Tina couldn’t keep it to herself anymore. She had been desperate for everyone else to know as soon as Quinn had confirmed she had also gotten in. Everyone cheered while Tina and Quinn giggled excitedly.

Mr. Schue smiled at them. “Oh my god. That’s great guys. Columbia’s an Ivy League, right?”

“Yeah, we both applied to all the Ivies.” Tina said. “I also got into Dartmouth and Cornell, but Columbia was the only one we matched.”

Quinn nodded next to her. “My transition from pregnant sophomore to out and proud senior really turned on the admissions board.” She looked at Tina. “Guess we’re going to New York City, too.”

Everyone clapped again. Tina leaned in to give Quinn a peck and a few people whooped.

“Oh, yeah,” Will thought aloud. “I hadn’t even realized. Guess you guys won’t be getting rid of each other yet.”

Quinn looked uncertain for the first time. “Well, maybe. We were planning to board, but maybe we can come up with an arrangement…” She looked at Santana.

Santana winked at her. “Anything for you, Sweetie.”

Tina rolled her eyes. Ever since Quinn had come out, Santana had taken it upon herself to flirt with her at every opportunity. Tina would call them out, but Quinn confided in her that the teasing actually made her feel more normal. Santana teased everybody. It would feel weird if she didn’t. 

“Not like that,” Tina chided.

Santana winked at her, too. “Hey, I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t the one who proposed ‘an arrangement.’”

Rachel gestured to herself. “If there is going to be an arrangement, then I’m in on it, too.” 

“Never mind, I’m out.”

“Hey!”

“Kidding, sorta.”

“Ladies, you can make decisions about your living situation later.” Mr. Schue cut in again. “For now we need to focus up. They need the auditorium in 45 minutes to plan graduation. Who’s next?”

“Mr. Schue, if I may?” Kurt asked.

Mr. Schue gestured for him to continue. 

* * *

Kurt took a deep breath. “Rachel, I have thought about it and I accept your offer–”

She squealed. “This is the best idea ever. We’re gonna be roomies. I promise you won’t regret it.”

“Wait, let me finish, I accept your offer as long as we have at least one more roommate.”

“Hold on, guys, what’s going on? What offer?” Mr. Schue asked.

Kurt caught everyone up. “I didn’t get accepted into NYADA, but I still need to go to New York. Rachel found out somehow and offered to get an apartment with me–”

“And he said yes which means we are going to New York together,” Rachel finished.

“Probably, we still need another person to agree to live with us.”

Santana rolled her eyes. “Living with Berry and Porcelain? Pass. They’d never stop singing. My ears are bleeding just thinking about it.”

“I don’t know, Santana,” Brittany said. “It could be fun. You did say once that you’re starting to like Rachel.”

“I must have been drunk.”

“You said that an hour ago.”

“Can we please not worry about this right now?” Kurt said. “Rachel, we can discuss our plans later. I nominate Mercedes to go next.”

* * *

Mercedes glared at him. Her annoyance did help calm her down a little. “Thanks. So, uh, I guess I’ll be joining you all in NYC. I got into NYADA, too. I got the letter last night.”

“I knew it!” Kurt yelled over the sound of hollering. “So, it’s all happening?”

Mercedes sighed, but she was smiling. “Yes, I guess. I concede to you. Congratulations on winning.”

He took both of her hands in his. “Oh, please. We’re both winners and you know it.”

“New York is truly getting some talented ladies,” Mr. Schue said, gaze sweeping over all of them. “Boys, anything you guys wanna say?”

Everyone glanced at Kurt. He side-eyed Mr. Schue, but didn’t comment. 

Mercedes sighed. She didn’t think Mr. Schue did it on purpose, but it still hurt everytime he brushed one of them over. New York would be better to them, she was sure of it.

* * *

“I’ll go.” Sam broke the silence. “So, you all know I wanna be a teacher, in music or history, maybe. I applied to a lot of places and hadn’t really made up my mind yet, but hearing you all talking...I’ve made my decision. I’m going to State University of NY. SUNY.”

“Dude,” Finn yelled from across the circle.

“Don’t say it,” Sam warned.

“I got in, too.”

“Dude!”

They stood up and hugged each other while everyone clapped and laughed around them. 

“Man,” Sam said when they broke apart. “We really are just picking up our lives and taking all of it 500 miles away.”

“Well, there you go, Kurt,” Rachel said. “Finn will be our third.”

“Absolutely not.” Kurt turned to Finn. “I love you, you’re my brother, but there is no way I’m sharing a small apartment with my brother and his girlfriend. That’s depressing and honestly probably gross. I was thinking Mercedes would be our third. I kinda already promised her the place.”

“What? But this is our thing!”

“Guys!” Sam felt slightly crazed. “Don’t fight, be excited. We’re gonna see each other all the time still. You know you’re happy, even you Santana.”

Santana wiped the smile off her face, but Sam had already seen it. 

He knew this was the best case scenario for her. She had told him. Back in junior year, when they had gone to Rachel’s party together, she had confessed to him her fears that she’d be lonely after high school, after hanging out with her stopped being an obligation and became a chore. To be fair, she was drunk and sobbing into his shirt, but Sam was pretty sure that was what she had said. 

She broke eye contact with him and looked at the floor. 

Sam and Finn both sat down as Artie wheeled a little bit into the center of the circle. 

* * *

“So, everyone, as you know, I submitted several short films I made throughout the years to different film schools including a documentary about my time in show choir and the music video I made for Ms. Sylvester in Sophmore year.”

Santana waved her hand in a signal to hurry it up.

“I heard back from my number one pick yesterday.” He was trying really hard not to smile. “And I got in...to New York Film Academy. NYC, baby!”

“You know what, enough of this, Mike, just tell us you will be joining us so Kurt and I can plan,” Rachel said over the excitement 

“Rachel,” Kurt hissed. “Don’t be insensitive.”

“He knows I’m happy for him, but we need to think about ourselves for a second.”

Kurt fixed her with a glare.

“Actually,” Mike said hurriedly. “It looks like you are gonna have to plan for one more. Juilliard,” He held out his acceptance letter, “Was very impressed with the tape Artie recorded of me dancing as well as my 4.0 and football achievements.”

Everyone was buzzing with excitement when they turned to Puck. He was the only one sitting down. 

* * *

Puck stood up shakily.

“I wasn’t really in on the New York thing and, frankly, I’m offended to be left out of the loop. I know you’re all broken up that I have my heart set on not going to college, but, I’ll have you know, the job I chose is very versatile.”

“So?” Finn prompted.

“So, my compadres, if you’ll have me, I’ll be joining you in the big city.”

Everyone screamed. 

Puck threw out his arms and squished everyone into a group hug. 

* * *

The laughing and celebration went on for several minutes until Mr. Schue got antsy.

“Guys.” They all turned to him. “I don’t know if this is healthy, dragging everyone from your past to your future.” 

Rachel stepped up. “Mr. Schue, not to be rude or anything, but you don’t really have any, you know, close friends. We just want to hang on to the ones we have.”

“Also,” Santana said, looking him right in the eye, “Again, no offense, but didn’t you marry your high school girlfriend?”

Everyone murmured in agreement.

He ran his hands through his hair. “Yeah, and look how that turned out. Guys, you gotta be realistic.” 

“We are being realistic, though,” Mercedes said. “We didn’t really plan this, it kinda just happened.”

“We’ve really gotten closer in the past year,” Finn added. “There hasn’t been any break ups, the fighting has gone down to once a month, and no one even threatened to quit this year.” 

“Fine,” Will said. “At least you aren’t all planning to live together.”

He laughed to himself until their silence grew uncomfortable. 

They were all trading glances with each other in a silent conversation. It reached a point where everyone seemed to be in agreement and they turned back to him, all with matching smiles. He frowned. 

“No.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!


	2. Mistakes Were Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People make mistakes and everyone has to live with the consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a floorplan of their apartment that you can see here: https://personalgarbagepile.tumblr.com/post/628568617435398144/floorplan-for-my-glee-au-where-everyone-lived

Blaine looked around the Lima Bean, trying to get his mind off of all the uncertainties. He eyed the familiar layout, glanced at the businessmen tapping their feet impatiently in the queue, listened to a family talk amongst themselves about their recent move to Lima. They might be regulars a year from now. He’d stop being a regular soon enough. 

“I’m gonna miss this place,” is all he said aloud.

Kurt smiled at him over his coffee. “Why? There are other coffee shops in New York. Better ones, probably. That city’s known for food.”

“C’mon, Kurt, there're so many memories here.” His eyes got distant as he gestured towards the businessmen. “We were standing right over there when you said you liked me for the first time.”

“That’s a terrible memory,” Kurt said. “You turned me down.”

Blaine decided to ignore that. “And it was at that table over there in the corner that we had our first date,” he said, pointing.

“Our first date was to my friends’ performance at Mckinley.” Kurt frowned. “Do you remember any of our relationship?”

“And,” Blaine said, tapping the table top. “Right now, at this very moment, I’m sitting here listening to a total downer ruin all of my favorite memories.”

Kurt smiled softly at his pout. “As cute as your nervous ramblings are, I’m trying to let go of my life here to make room for new memories.”

He said it like it was so easy. Like his life wasn’t currently breaking down completely. Kurt had always been more willing to let go of his past than Blaine was. 

“I’m part of that, right?”

“I wouldn’t take you with me if you weren’t.”

“‘Take me with you,’” Blaine leaned back in his chair smugly. “Please, you’re basically following me.”

“I didn’t know you would get in NYU when I agreed to Rachel’s plan.”

“I applied only to New York schools.” 

“Yeah, and why did you do that?” Kurt asked.

“Because,” Blaine thought for a moment. “Because you said you were going to New York,” he conceded.

“Exactly,” Kurt reached out to take his hand. “Don’t worry. I’d follow you anywhere, too.”

Blaine was suddenly nervous. New York felt like a fantasy, fun to play with for a while but not realistic enough to genuinely pursue. He flipped their hands over, so he could trace the lines in Kurt’s palm. Kurt glanced down at his hands, then back up to Blaine’s face. 

“So, everyone’s cool if I crash with you guys for a few months, right?” Blaine asked. 

“Of course, the New Directions love you.” 

“ _ Some _ of them  _ tolerate _ me, and that’s mostly just the girls. All the guys in there hazed me for like 2 months,” Blaine argued. “I’m pretty sure it’s still going on. I don’t think Puck ever stopped. Last week, he invited me to play video games with some of the guys. He ignored me the whole time. I don’t even think he noticed he was doing it.”

Kurt hummed. “That was probably my fault. They asked me when we started dating if you were ‘pressuring me to do anything’ and I said yes because you had just volunteered me to sing with you.”

Blaine leaned in a little over the table. 

“So I get called ‘Moonshot’ because of a misunderstanding?”

“I think that’s more of a dig at your height.”

“Oh.”

“And, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize the implications until after. Don’t worry, I’ll ask them to stop. They can be...overprotective, I guess. Habit from junior year. And, you know, there’s always the guilt, of course.”

“Of course.” 

There was a silence. Blaine decided to change the subject. 

“How’s Finn’s apartment search going?” 

“It’s going good, I think. I don’t know. He texted the group chat last night that he had found the ‘perfect place’ in quotes as well as the location. He stopped replying when we asked him for pictures.”

“So you’re all scared.”

“Terrified.”

Blaine nodded. He had been skeptical when Kurt had told him that Finn, the man who once tripped while standing still, was in charge of choosing a place for 13 people to live in. Kurt had assured him that it wasn’t really his brother doing the search, but his step-cousin who was a realtor. It didn’t alleviate Blaine’s fears that Finn was capable of finding the right place as much as reassure him that they would definitely at least be able to look at official paperwork. 

Blaine held out his cup.

“To Finn?”

Kurt bumped their cups together.

“To Finn.”

* * *

Finn flew back to Ohio early the next day. He sent a message in the group chat telling everyone to be at his house when he got in. He was really excited to tell everyone about his trip. The place he had found was perfect. 

They all turned to look at him when he walked in the door. 

Finn started rambling as soon as he walked in. 

“I found the best place. Kenya took all of our needs and matched them perfectly. It’s a half hour subway ride to everyone’s school. It’s got over fifteen hundred square feet. There are two bathrooms and a kitchen with almost all the appliances. The building used to be for a bunch of offices, but they were converted into apartments a few–”

“How many rooms does it have?” Tina asked. She glanced at Quinn. The couples were aware that they would most likely have to all be sharing a room.

Finn smiled even wider. 

“Three.”

Everyone stared at him blankly.

“Like three bedrooms?” Mike asked.

“No,” Finn said. “Three rooms. Two bathrooms and one kitchen.”

Santana smiled sarcastically at him. “Great job, Finn. Where are we gonna sleep?”

“That’s the best part. Wherever we want. Almost all of this place is open space. They got rid of all the walls except around the bathrooms. It’s so freeing. Technically, we aren’t allowed to add walls, but–”

Everyone started shouting at once. 

Santana stood up. “No, I’m out. This is ridiculous. I’m not about to live in a one room apartment with you hyperactive wrecks. We’re leaving.”

She grabbed Brittany’s hand and headed for the door. 

“Wait, no,” Finn called after them. He held out his hands placatingly. “Just let me finish.”

Santana stopped and turned around but didn’t sit back down. 

“Finn,”

He turned to look at Quinn. 

She looked up at him, frowning. “Santana’s right. This is way too far way too soon. We need privacy. We need areas to go to be alone. I know that wasn’t on the list we gave you, but I’d figured that you’d felt the same way. You need to go back to New York and start fresh.”

Everyone murmured their agreement.

“That’s what I thought, too, but, guys, Kenya had this idea. We can’t have walls, but we can have privacy. She came up with a way to make temporary partitions.”

“Not to drag up the past,” Kurt said, raising his hand a little. “But you yelled at me about my privacy partition when you first moved in.”

Finn sighed. He was really desperate for them to just go with him on this. He had toured at least 10 places but none fit their specific needs. This place was the only one he could find that was big enough to accommodate all of them on short notice. 

“I was freaked out because you had a crush on me, and I’ve apologized for that like a million times.” 

“Wait, what?” Blaine asked.

Kurt glared at Finn

“Sorry.”

“He had a crush on me, too,” Puck added, nodding his head solemnly. 

Kurt shook his head. 

“Not even a little bit true.”

Rachel ignored all of them. She rubbed Finn’s arm apologetically.

“Finn, this is a lot more work than we planned for. We don’t really have the time or the skills to renovate the whole house.”

“No, it wouldn’t really be a renovation though. There are beams on the ceiling that we could tie things to. The ceilings aren’t that high, I could probably reach it with a step ladder.”

“Ok, but how will we split up the rooms?” Mercedes asked. 

Finn felt a bit more confident. If they were asking questions it had to mean they were considering it. 

“Here’s the plan. Eight bedrooms, five pairs and three singles. Kenya did the math and everyone can have an 11 x 11 room, a single bed, and storage containers that roll under the bed for clothes. The leftover space is for the living room.”

He looked around the room, but no one was giving him anything.

“C’mon guys. I’ve really thought this through. I wouldn’t have left New York if I thought there was a better option.”

They remained impassive.

“Can you leave for a second?” Rachel asked. 

Finn felt offended. “What?”

Rachel shrugged.

“You’re too biased to objectively help make the decision.” 

Everyone nodded. 

“I mean, I guess…” 

“Great!” 

She grabbed his hand and gently guided him to his bedroom. “Wait here. I’ll come back for you when we’re done.” 

The door slammed shut behind her. 

Finn sat on his bed and listened to the soft pitter-patter of her footsteps running down the stairs. He could hear the low murmurs of his friends talking. Sometimes it got so loud he could almost make out what they were saying. At one point, a door slammed. Finn hoped they would all still be there when he went down. 

After over half an hour, there was a knock on his door.

He found Rachel on the other side. 

She held her hand out, expressionless. “We’ve made our decision.”

Finn sighed and took her hand. 

“Lead the way.”

The chatter in the living room fell silent as soon as he walked in. He shifted from foot to foot, trying to read the room. 

“So, we’ve been talking,” Quinn started, keeping her expression even. “And we’ve decided–”

“We like your idea,” Rachel interrupted, squealing in excitement. “We’re all gonna be roomies.”

“Really?”

She nodded.

“Yes!” Finn shouted, and everyone stood up to encircle him in a group hug. “Thank god, I was losing my mind upstairs. If you guys had made me wait that long just to say no–”

Puck pulled away from him a little. “Oh, we decided within five minutes.”

“Yeah,” Santana added. “We just wanted you to squirm a little.”

“Santana–”

“Kidding, kinda.”

* * *

Tina watched Puck and Kurt argue from her spot on the floor. 

“Why did we pick them to be our designers again?”

Mercedes sighed and sat down next to her. 

“Well, Kurt was insistent that he be put in charge of decorating the living room and bathrooms. All the other guys got nervous, so they sent Puck in to balance him out. Don’t tell Kurt this, but I think it’s kind of a good idea.”

“They're not gonna get anything done like this. There’s been fighting ever since we left the airport. They fought through the whole cab ride here.” Tina winced. She had accidentally sat with them on the ride to their new apartment. The boys had spent the entire drive bickering back and forth. The cab driver had a vein popping out of his head by the end of it. She had felt so bad that she tipped him an extra five dollars. 

Mercedes looked at her sympathetically. “That’s true, someone should really get them to stop. We just got here. They’re killing the mood.” 

She looked over her shoulder at them. 

“Guys!”

Everyone in the room except Kurt and Puck stopped what they were doing to look at her. 

She sighed again.

“Alright,” she gestured for everyone else to sit around her. “Huddle up. Group decision. Who’s gonna be their mediator?”

“Uh,” Sam scanned the group before resting his eyes on Tina. “I vote Tina.”

Tina’s eyes widened. “No way, they won’t listen to me.”

“You can do it.” Quinn rested a hand on her shoulder. “You and Kurt are really close. He likes you. Besides, we should get some ladies’ input before this completely falls apart.”

Tina stood up a little straighter. 

“Ok, ok.” She hunched her shoulders and forced her chin up. “They like me, we’re friends. I’m smart, I’m confident.” 

She continued hyping herself up as she walked toward the two fighting boys and put a hand on both of their shoulders. They stopped talking and looked down at her. Tina heard the group still talking behind her.

“Do you really think she can do it?” Finn asked.

“Of course,” Quinn said, but she sounded a little less confident than before. 

* * *

While Tina, Puck, and Kurt drew outlines of the floorplan, Santana watched, unimpressed, as the rest of the boys carried their luggage upstairs. The girls had already brought all of theirs and were currently mapping out rooms on the floor with tape. 

Finn and Sam reached the top of the steps and dropped all their stuff unceremoniously to the ground. 

Sam groaned and stretched his muscles. 

“Damn you, Finn. I can’t believe you got us a place on the third floor. How’s Artie gonna get around?”

Finn tilted his head in thought. 

“I didn’t even think—I guess we’ll just have to carry him up and down.”

“Everytime?”

Finn shrugged.

“What if we aren’t home?” 

“I don’t know, man, we can talk about this later,” Finn said, clapping Sam on the shoulder. “It’s getting dark out and we can’t leave Artie outside on his own at night. There’s still more stuff, c’mon.”

Santana turned to Brittany. 

“They know this place has an elevator, right?”

Brittany shrugged and continued unrolling tape.

* * *

With the open floor space sectioned off into eight equal size bedrooms and a living room, everyone sat down on the floor to eat. Chinese food had been ordered from a place across the street. The only problem was that none of them had thought to buy utensils, so they were all forced to use the chopsticks provided by the restaurant. 

“Man, this sucks,” Puck complained, giving up and skewering his chicken with his chopstick. 

“It would be easier if you just did it the way I showed you,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

“That was impossible. I wasn’t getting anything that way,” Puck said indignantly.

Rachel eyed his plate. “Well, how are you gonna eat your rice?” 

Puck smiled sweetly at her. “Like this.” 

He shoved his whole face into his plate. 

Kurt groaned. “That’s disgusting.”

Puck pulled his head up from his plate. 

“If you think that’s gross, wait until tonight.”

“What’s tonight?” 

“Oh, everynight. I tend to lose bowel control in my sleep. My mom told me.”

“You shit in your bed?” Santana asked.

“No, gas.” 

Everyone groaned. 

Quinn put down her food and pushed it away. “And that’s why we put you closest to the bathroom.” 

* * *

It was ten minutes until one in the morning and Artie regretted all of his choices. He was dead tired, having woken up at two in the morning the previous day to catch the flight. After nearly a day, he had finally gotten into his bed and found that he still couldn’t sleep. 

Evidently, neither could anyone else. 

To his right, he could hear Kurt and Blaine play fighting over who got what side of the bed, and, to his left, Mercedes and Sam were giggling together about a funny video Sam had found earlier that day. 

Artie had already resigned himself to getting no sleep again when his phone buzzed. 

He reached over the side of the bed and unplugged it. The screen lit up to reveal a text from Puck.

**Puck: u having the same problem**

Artie wasn’t surprised. Their rooms weren’t close to each other, but the curtains did little to nothing to muffle and sound.

_ Artie: You can hear k b m and s from all the way over there? _

**Puck: a little**

**Puck: hold on**

**Puck: i’ll ask mike**

Artie played games on his phone while he waited. Seven minutes later his phone dinged again. This time the message was from Mike.

**Mike:** **_Puck and I are planning an ambush. You in?_ **

_ Artie: Give me a second _

Artie pushed himself up and slid off the bed into his wheelchair. 

_ Artie: Who are you getting? _

**_Mike: Sam and Mercedes. Why, can you hear anyone else?_ **

Artie listened for a second. 

_ Artie: K and b are still talking _

He turned himself toward his best approximation of where Kurt and Blaine’s bed was.

_ Artie: I can hear a little rustling from across the living room _

_ Artie: Puck said r and f are still up _

**_Mike: So we all have our targets. See you on the other side._ **

_ Artie: You too _

Artie let out a battle cry as he rolled through the two-curtain divider and into Kurt and Blaine’s room. They both sat up, alarmed. Blaine held his arm out protectively. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Kurt demanded through heavy breathes.

Artie didn’t answer. Instead, he parked his chair right up against their bed, and, without warning, used all his upper body strength to launch himself into the middle of their bed. On instinct, they caught him and laid him between them. 

“You wouldn’t shut up,” Artie said defensively. “Me and the guys planned a three-man assault.” 

They looked scandalized. 

“More people are coming?” 

“No, you guys weren’t the only ones keeping me up. I think Mike took Mercedes and Sam.” 

Artie listened for a moment. There was a frightened yelp from across the room. “And it sounds like Puck jumped Finn and Rachel.”

“Well, congratulations, you’re here,” Blaine said. “Now what?”

“Well,” Artie started. “We didn’t really plan–”

“I HAVEN’T SLEPT IN OVER 24 HOURS,” Santana shouted. 

The apartment fell silent for the first time that night. 

“NOW THAT YOU’RE ALL COMFORTABLE, CAN YOU SHUT THE HELL UP AND GO TO SLEEP?”

No one moved for a few minutes. Then, the rustling started as people retucked themselves in. 

Artie started doing the same until he remembered he wasn’t in his own bed. He tried to push himself up.

“Oh, I need to–”

“ARTIE, THIS IS THE LAST TIME.”

Artie let out a whimper and laid back down.

“Sorry,” he whispered. 

Artie could feel Kurt and Blaine’s twin glares on the sides of his head, but he refused to turn and face either of them. He stared up at the ceiling, willing his adrenaline to go down so he could sleep. 

After about five minutes he heard quiet whispering directly into his right ear. He looked at Kurt, ready to tell him off, but his eyes were closed. 

Artie listened to the whispering more closely. 

“No, Mr. Schue, I think your hair is very nice, I just wouldn’t want it for myself...no, I’d never lie to you, I promise.”

Artie realized he was sleep-talking. He rolled over so he was facing Blaine. He, too, was asleep, his breathing so soft that it helped calm Artie down. 

His eyes were almost closed when he was pushed slightly by Blaine’s arm. The force of it rolled Artie onto his back again. Blaine’s arm wrapped around his waist and began to pull him closer to himself. Then, he slowly inched his head onto Artie’s chest. 

They were full on cuddling before Blaine stopped moving. 

Artie didn’t know what to do. The weight on his chest wasn’t uncomfortable, but the hair that was going up his nose made it hard to breath. He debated waking Blaine up and asking him to get off. On one hand, he knew Blaine would let him go immediately and apologize for accidentally manhandling him. On the other hand, they’d both be embarrassed and even more uncomfortable. 

Artie decided to suffer in silence, figuring this way at least one of them got some sleep. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on anything except Kurt’s hot breath going directly into his ear.

It was going to be a long night. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This definitely won't update for a couple days. I'm really busy tomorrow and I want to take some time to really plan everything out. I knew what had to be in this chapter, but after this the time is gonna be more jumpy. Thanks for reading!


	3. Growing Pains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Growing up is hard, but it's even harder when you're growing up together.

Tina woke up early the first morning to the sound of multiple voices. There were too many people talking at once to follow any one conversation. She looked to the empty spot on the bed next to her. Quinn was already up, then. No reason to stay in bed. 

She sat up and looked around their room. It wasn’t exactly what she had hoped for, but it was cozy enough. 

Quinn had been put in charge of picking out their curtains. She had wanted them to be very basic and floral. In Tina’s opinion, the ones she had chosen looked like the wallpaper in her grandma’s house, but she didn’t protest the design. Her only problem with them was that they were very thin. Tina is very easily woken up by sunlight and the curtains did nothing to keep light out. If anything, it made the light distribute more evenly. To compromise, Tina sewed thick black fabric to the back of Quinn’s curtains. Quinn’s chosen design was displayed on the outside which meant being inside their room was a little depressing. Luckily, they knew about this and proactively chose all their bed sheets to be very bright. They also bought a lamp that could be set to shine any color. It didn’t quite offset the black, but it did make their room less cavelike. 

Tina stretched and stood up, groaning as her shoulders popped. She felt really warm, but not in an uncomfortable way. More like in a post-five-hour-nap kind of way that left her feeling disoriented. 

The volume of the talking was getting louder. There was now an aggressive edge to the voices. Tina groaned again for an entirely different reason. She hoped she wouldn't have to wake up to this everyday. 

As soon as she stumped out from behind her curtains she walked straight into Quinn’s back. Her girlfriend had seemingly walked into the shared living space and was immediately accosted by the rest of their friends. Quinn whirled and grabbed her forearms. 

“Thank god you’re here. I can’t believe you’ve managed to sleep this long. They’re driving me crazy.”

Tina scanned the room. Everyone was split off into little groups of two or three, still dressed in their pajamas, arguing like their lives depended on it. It was domestic and unfamiliar to the point that it was almost surreal.

“How long has this been going on? What are they even fighting about?”

Quinn shook her head. 

“No one has really let me in on it. From what I’ve gotten so far, and I’m really hoping I’m wrong, but I think they might have all slept together?”

Tina gasped. 

“Oh my god, really?”

“Yeah.”

“Can’t believe they didn’t invite us.”

Quinn shrugged.

Tina noticed Santana and Brittany were also standing off to the side, watching with expressions of bored disinterest. 

Tina gestured over to where they stood.

“Let’s ask them.” 

They approached carefully. Both of them have had sleepovers with Santana before and they had learned the hard way that she is even scarier before coffee. Luckily, Santana had brought a coffee machine for exactly this reason. Tina knew she hadn’t used it today because, apparently, everyone was incompetant and no one had thought to bring mugs. They ran out of bottled water last night, so they can’t drink anything until they go shopping. The plan was to go later that day, but Tina couldn’t see that happening until this mess was cleaned up. 

Santana turned to them as they approached. 

Tina analyzed her. She felt like after three years of knowing each other, she could read Santana pretty well. Based on her neutral face and still hands, she was awake enough to talk. 

“We were hoping you knew what's going on,” Tina said.

Santana crossed her arms. “Oh, they all slept together.”

Tina and Quinn shot each other a look.

“I was kinda kidding earlier…” Quinn said, looking unsure.

Santana’s eyes flicked back and forth on both of their faces, looking confused, then annoyed. “Not like that, numbnuts. No, the three singles got sick of the chit chat and planned a sneak attack. Somehow, it just made everyone louder. Didn’t you hear them talking?”

Tina and Quinn both shook their heads.

“No,” Tina said, picking at her pajama pants. “I fell asleep sitting up. I’m a heavy sleeper.”

“Me, too,” Quinn said.

“Well, lucky you. It kept me up.”

“So, why are they all fighting?”

Santana surveyed the room. “Oh, I don’t know. I think they all woke up spooning or whatever and are trying to pass blame. Personally, I think it’s my fault. I’m the one who threatened them, but whatever.”

Tina decided not to ask. 

“So now what?”

“What do you mean?”

“Shouldn’t we get them to stop?”

“Why?”

Tina glanced at the clock on the stove.

“Because it's nine-thirty in the morning and we have neighbors below us?” Tina suggested. She rubbed her face. “If they really were making noise late last night, it’s a miracle we haven’t been evicted already.”

Santana sighed, seeming resigned. “I’m really sick of having to do all the work around here.” 

She faced their crowd of friends. “GUYS.”

They all turned to look at her.

She took a deep breath. “Look, I don’t care about whatever stupid dick measuring contest you all decided to wake me up for. I don’t care that Puck ended up in a Finn and Rachel sandwich, or that Mike kicked Sam out of the bed, or even that Artie had to listen to Kurt sleep talk about his nightmare hellscape all night, although, admittedly, I find all of that hilarious. I hate to be the one to say this, but if we’re going to be living together for the foreseeable future, you all need to pull yourselves together. So you all smell like each other now. Who cares? Soon this place is going to smell like all of us mixed together so you’d better get used to it. I, myself, have come to terms with the fact that Finn’s cologne is going to be so strong that I’ll be able to taste it, but you don’t hear me complaining. Now can you please shut up before we get kicked out onto the streets?”

They all looked a little guilty. 

Artie turned to Blaine. “I’m sorry that I yelled at you for forcing me to listen to Kurt’s monologue about his lost model train for an hour.”

Blaine shrugged. “I’m sorry for yelling at you for yelling at me for something I didn’t even really do.”

“Apology accepted.”

They shook hands while Kurt watched, amused. Around the room, everyone else got the hint and started apologizing to each other, too. 

“Hey, I’m sorry for kicking you out of your own bed. I was asleep, you know?”

“I wasn’t even mad about that, man. I was just kinda annoyed that Mercedes didn’t even seem to mind that I was gone.”

Mercedes smacked Sam’s arm lightly. He laughed and pulled all three of them closer for a hug.

Puck looked Finn in the eye. “I’m sorry that you feel threatened by me and think I’m trying to steal your girl. I promise that she’s not my type.”

“That’s not even a little bit why I was mad, but I accept your apology. I’m sorry that you have no idea how to nicely tell people to be quiet.”

“And I’m sorry that I’m still disgusted to wake up being held by you,” Rachel said.

Puck smiled at both of them and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “I forgive you.” He looked around the room.

“Since we’re all going to smell like each other soon enough, we might as well speed up the process. Everyone thinking what I’m thinking?”

Santana held up her hand. “Absolutely not. I’m absolutely not having sex with you again ever. I just finished cleansing my brain of the memories.”

Brittany patted her arm. “That must have hurt.”

“Wait,” Blaine said, laughing a little. “You guys slept with one another?”

“Yeah, duh. I’ve slept with almost every girl at Mckinley.”

“I made a lot of bad choices sophomore year.”

Blaine looked uncomfortable now. “So, if you’ve slept with every girl at Mckinley, then you must have slept with every girl here.”

Puck corrected him. “I said almost. I’ve only slept with Santana, Brittany, and Quinn. I made out with Rachel once and Mercedes and I dated for like two days. I guess Tina is the only one I haven’t gotten with.” He winked at her. “Yet.”

Quinn rolled her eyes and put her arm around Tina’s waist.

Blaine was shocked. “Oh...my god, that’s nearly all the girls. How many of you guys have dated?”

Everyone paused for a minute, thinking, then they all started talking at once.

“Well, technically only three people, but according to Ms. Holliday sex transfers or something, so–”

“One. I’m 99% sure Puck didn’t even really know who I was the whole time so I don’t really count him–”

“I think I’ve gotten with all the boys here except maybe Mike and Finn. It’s hard to keep count once you reach the double digits–”

“Wait, but does kissing count as dating? I guess every girl but Tina. Wait, actually, Tina, did we–”

“One. No, two. Actually, maybe three...wait, Blaine. Don’t act all innocent. You went out on a date with me. Remember the–”

Blaine walked away from all of them to the kitchen. “You’re all insane. I need a drink.”

Santana scoffed. “How? We don’t have any cups and we drank all our water yesterday.”

Blaine didn’t answer her and just stuck his head under the faucet. 

“Dude,” Sam said, clapping his hands. “You’re a genius.” 

He ran over to help himself to some water, too.

Mercedes leaned over to Kurt. 

“Where did you find this boy?”

“I could ask you the same question.”

* * *

Puck had never spent this long with Tina and Kurt alone before. He was pleased to find that there were no awkward silences. He was less pleased that their incessant chatter made his eyes glaze over.

“Guys, who cares what shade of purple the couch is? I can guarantee that no one knows the difference between Plum and Eggplant, never mind cares.”

Kurt glared at him. “I care. Eggplant is darker and more elegant. It won’t fit with the organized disaster look that we’re–”

“No, no,” Tina looked almost offended. “Plum is too bright. It’ll clash with Artie’s curtains.”

“Everything clashes with Artie’s curtains. They’re bright red!”

Puck tuned them out and looked around. An employee walked by, head down, clearly hoping not to get involved. A woman was side-eying them from the other end of the aisle. Puck smiled at her and waved a little. She rolled her eyes and walked away. Puck sighed.

“Guys, seriously, it’s been like two hours and we’ve only picked out which style of couch we’re gonna have. The list Quinn made for us has like 20 things. I vote plum. It’s brighter. My mom told me you’re more likely to notice crumbs on really dark or really bright floors. Figure couches are the same way.”

Kurt grimaced. “Don’t remind me that we’ll have to eat on the couch. I can’t believe we forgot to plan for a dining room.” 

“We did plan for a dining room. It’s just gonna have to be part of the living room. That’s the point of getting the U-couch. It’ll be like the Last Supper every night. You know, that picture of Jesus and his boys?”

“I’m atheist, not uncultured.”

Tina crossed her arms. “Fine, if we choose the light purple couch then I get to choose the rug.”

Kurt looked like he was about to protest, so Puck answered before he could. 

“Deal, can we find that attendant lady now?”

Kurt walked away, muttering. “First I let Blaine pick out a rug for our room and now Tina gets to pick out the rug for the living room. I swear, if the rug is as bright as Blaine’s, I’m burning it.”

Puck could tell he wasn’t really mad, though. Tina walked up next to him and bumped their shoulders together. Kurt smiled at her and offered her his arm. 

* * *

By the time they were done, it was dinnertime and Kurt was tired and only half done with his responsibilities for the day. He texted Finn to take all their friends out for dinner while he, Puck, and Tina set up everything. 

They had convinced one of the employees to let them borrow the cart so they could wheel each piece of their couch and table from the store to the apartment. Puck offered to push the cart back and forth with the employee while Kurt and Tina lugged each piece upstairs. Kurt was annoyed at getting the hard job, but Tina actually perked up a little bit. 

Puck dropped them off with the first piece. Kurt lifted his end, resigning himself to the three staircases of uphill, when Tina started pulling her end in the opposite direction. 

“Where are we going?” He asked as she led them down a hallway. 

She looked at him like he was an idiot. “To the elevator?”

“This building has an elevator?”

She laughed until she noticed he wasn’t laughing with her. “Oh, you didn’t know? Yeah, of course. It was an office building for a company that made wheelchairs. It had to be accessible or else what was the point.”

“Huh.” 

They reached the elevator. Tina pressed the button and the doors opened immediately. They shuffled in. 

“This is a lot easier than I thought it would be. I think Puckerman tried to stick us with the crap job.”

“Well, Puck’s an idiot.”

“True, true.”

They reached their floor and dropped the piece off, deciding to take the stairs down. Puck was already there. He looked confused when they showed up laughing and not at all sweaty.

“Only 3 more pieces after this. Then there’s the two pieces of the table and the rug. Everything else is in a bag.”

Kurt shrugged. “Okay, cool.”

Puck squinted at them. “I can switch off with one of you if you’re tired.”

Tina and Kurt both smiled and tilted their heads towards each other. 

“No, we’ve got this.”

* * *

Finn was standing outside of the door to the apartment, listening to the sounds of his friends moving around inside. He was really nervous about what the living room was going to look like. He had kept his promise to Kurt and gotten everybody out of the apartment for three hours while everything was set up, but he wasn’t happy about the secrecy. The apartment already looked disjointed. The kitchen was all light green, remnants of its past as a break room during the ‘80s. The rooms were even more offensive as no one had coordinated their curtain colors or patterns. They all clashed, making the collection of rooms look like circus tents. 

The curtains surrounding his own room were dark pink. Finn had protested initially, but none of his objections stood up to Rachel’s scrutiny and it didn’t help that all the girls ganged up on him, asking why he was so offended by the color. 

Finn had discovered last night that they weren’t so bad. They made the light in his room slightly pink which made Rachel look glowy and bright. Besides, she was so excited when he agreed. He couldn’t change his mind now.

He looked at her now. She was staring at him. When she noticed him looking, she held her hands out. 

He took them both in his own.

“Are you as nervous as I am?”

She shook her head. “Nah, they couldn’t make it any worse, right? At least this way we won’t have to sit on the floor.”

Finn considered this. Quinn had told him the decorators would be in charge of buying the furniture, but he hadn't really considered what that meant, too worried about what it might look like. He felt a little better. 

“And besides,” she continued. “I trust Tina to make sure Kurt doesn’t go too modern and that Puck doesn’t, you know, have too much input.”

Rachel had been very vocal about her dislike of Puck’s brown curtains. Even before they were put up, she had said they made her feel depressed, especially next to her own. Puck had threatened to take them down and change in front of everyone. She let up a little, but never missed an opportunity to mention her distaste for them. 

Finn laughed. “He can have cool ideas, too, sometimes. You just gotta catch him on a good day. Also, if you think Tina will pull them closer to the middle, you’re dreaming. She’ll, I don’t know, add in another layer.”

Rachel looked slightly less assured, but before she could say anything, the sounds coming from the apartment stopped and there was a knock on the door from the inside.

“You may now come in,” Kurt said. 

Sam hastily grabbed the handle and pushed the door open, revealing their three friends, All of them looking worn out but happy. They moved aside to let everyone in.

“Oh.”

It was better than Finn had expected. All the furniture made the apartment look smaller but cozier. As soon as he walked in, Finn bumped into the side of a massive purple U-shaped couch. It surrounded a large wooden table along three sides. In front of the only side of the table not surrounded by couch, was a wooden cabinet holding up a TV. The cabinet had been left open to show the three game stations Tina, Finn, and Artie had brought. Under the table was a black rug. It was so dark that the light seemed to be getting absorbed into it. 

Finn moved past the living room. The kitchen looked the same, but he knew it was now stocked with plates, cups, utensils, pots, pans, and other items needed to cook. Santana’s coffee maker now sat next to a toaster, a blender, and a salt shaker, all of which were black. 

There was a bulletin board on the left of the door, blank except for a set of colorful pins organized in the top left corner. To the right of the door was a coat rack, also empty. 

Mercedes was the first to break the silence.

“Okay…”

Tina looked more unsure. “What do you guys think?”

Mercedes looked thoughtful. “It’s very...college dorm...meets funeral...meets, I don’t know, uh, log cabin, I guess?”

Mike shrugged and jumped over the side of the couch to lay down on it. “I like it.”

“Me, too,” Brittany said. She looked starry eyed. Mike pulled her over the back of the couch so she could sit next to him. She went willingly, giggling. 

“I’m not saying it’s bad,” Mercedes said. “I’m saying it looks like twelve different people designed this place, which, to be fair, we did, so… you know. It’s different.”

She sat down next to Mike. 

Santana shuffled between the couch and the table to plop down next to Brittany. “I really didn’t care. As long as I can sit down.”

Sam sat down at the edge of the couch, next to Mercedes. “I didn’t either. Could be worse, you know?”

Tina looked like she didn’t know whether to be upset or not. “I wouldn’t have fought Kurt so hard on couch colors if I knew none of you would care.”

She sat down hard next to Sam.

Puck nudged her to scoot down a little and sat down next to her. 

“I told you so. I’m a man of the people. It could be highlighter yellow and no one would even notice.”

Tina pouted. 

“I think it really suits the place,” Blaine said, patting her on the shoulder as he walked by the back of the couch to sit next to Puck. 

Kurt sat down next to him and smiled. 

“Okay, but what if it was like five shades darker?” Tina asked.

“Tina…” Kurt said warningly. 

She shrunk down a little. 

Artie rolled behind the couch. “How am I going to see the TV from back here?”

“Oh!” 

Tina stood up and pulled Puck up with her. 

“That’s the best part. Look.”

She pushed the apart the couch from where she had been sitting away from Puck. Puck did the same on his side until there was a gap in the middle big enough for his chair. “It comes apart.”

Artie blushed and wheeled his chair forward. “Thanks, you guys.”

Tina sat back down and hugged his shoulders. 

Rachel pulled Finn to sit down next to her. 

“We love it, right Finn?”

Finn met Kurt’s eyes. He remembered back three years ago being asked a similar question. This felt important, like a do-over. He smiled.

“I love it.”

* * *

That night, Mercedes was going to the bathroom to brush her teeth when she noticed something she hadn’t earlier. 

“What’s this?” She asked, pointing to the ‘Boys’ sign on the bathroom door. 

“Oh,” Tina said, smiling. “Kurt thought it would be a good idea to split us up, so we could organize our products better.”

Mercedes scoffed. “That’s not even a little bit true. He just knows that half the boys, like, never shower.”

Rachel sat up from where she was leaning on Finn. 

“Hey,” Kurt said. “That’s not true. How would I even know that?”

“Because you lived with Sam and Finn for a year.”

Both boys looked guilty. 

“And you were on the football team for a year. There was a rumor that Puck didn’t take a shower for a whole year. I can’t confirm or deny this, but he definitely smelled like it was true.”

Puck stretched and spread his arms over the back of the couch. Blaine scootched away from him a little. 

Tina looked betrayed. “I can’t believe this. You can’t split us up so you can have more time in the bathroom.”

“She’s got a point,” Blaine said.

Kurt glared at him. 

He smiled back.

“Fine,” Kurt clapped his hands together. “Both bathrooms are gender neutral. Happy?”

Mercedes smiled. “Very.”

She walked in the boy’s bathroom and closed the door behind her. 

* * *

Blaine knew he wasn’t exactly part of the group yet. On top of the fact that he hadn’t gone to McKinley, almost everyone else had an additional year to get to know each other. They were all welcoming, in their own way, just a bit stiff like they were still not sure how much they could say around him. For the longest time, they had, technically, been rivals. Consciously, everyone seemed to know he would never snitch to the Warblers about what the New Directions were planning, but they were still cautious.

The only people Blaine felt really comfortable with besides Kurt were Mercedes and Sam. All through last year, Kurt and Mercedes had been insistent that they all go on double dates together. Blaine tried to avoid discussing anything to do with Glee Club so he didn’t look like a spy trying to gather info or something. This left them all with very little in common to talk about. After a very awkward and overly polite dinner, Kurt and Mercedes left the restaurant and walked right past their cars toward the park, talking the whole time. Blaine and Sam had no choice except to follow them. Mercedes linked her arm through Kurt’s as they walked steadily ahead of their dates. Him and Sam trailed behind, looking at the ground. When the silence became too much, Blaine took a shot in the dark and asked Sam if he’d seen any good movies lately. Sam mentioned watching having a movie marathon of the original Star Wars trilogy. It was the smoking gun that got them going. From then on, the dates were a lot easier and Blaine actually started looking forward to them. 

So Mercedes and Sam he got on good with. 

Everyone else he liked, and he thinks they like him, too, they just don't know each other well. 

The only person who is even close to Sam is Finn, who, despite his best efforts to hide it, really doesn’t know how to talk to his brother’s boyfriend. It wasn’t that they had nothing to talk about. Between sports, music, and fathers with a military background, they actually had a lot in common. The problem was that Finn couldn’t hold a conversation. He was incredibly awkward and fumbled his words. Once, he had just stopped talking in the middle of his sentence and walked away. Blaine had assumed this was part of the protective big brother hazing until an incident early last summer when Finn had accidentally walked in on him and Kurt kissing. Now they don't even make eye contact anymore. 

Regardless, Blaine figured if he was going to get anywhere with these people, he needed to clear up the tension first. And if that was going to happen, he was going to have to make the first move. He turned his left and called to Finn over Rachel’s head. 

“Hey, man. I think that we, as a group, should set some boundaries to, you know, prevent all this fighting.”

Finn actually looked over in his general direction. He actually smiled a little. “Yeah, totally.”

He huffed out a breath. 

“Hey, guys,” Finn said.

Everyone stopped talking to look at him. 

“Blaine has something he’d like to say.”

Blaine’s brain stopped functioning for a moment. He was used to other people making choices for him. He was used to councils organizing his every move. Dalton was easy. He didn’t have to decide what he wore, which song he sang, how he danced. Being the leader was easy when it wasn’t even his choice to be. Having group meetings where you have to be called on really hasn’t prepared him well for life outside of high school. He wasn’t used to being called on without raising his hand.

“Oh, uh, well, we’ve had a couple of...issues the past couple of days, and I was hoping we could establish some sort of system to, you know, prevent it from happening again.”

“You mean like rules?” Tina asked.

“No way,” Puck said. “Rules blow. I only agreed to this because I figured you all wouldn’t be policing me.”

Blaine nodded, looking down. 

“I think he’s right,” Sam said. Blaine made eye contact with him and they exchanged small smiles. “I love you guys, but we’re a wreck.”

“I agree,” Mercedes said.

Rachel clapped. “Don’t worry. I know exactly what we need. This’ll be a wonderful bonding opportunity.” She stood up and slipped behind the curtain to her bedroom. 

They all waited in silence. 

“Alright,” she said as she breezed back into the room, now holding a paper and a pen. “If we’re going to do this, I think we should write everything down. I volunteer myself to be incharge.”

Santana sighed. “Everybody who agrees Rachel should take notes, say ‘aye’”

“Aye,” everyone chorused.

Rachel smiled and clicked her pen. “Great. Who wants to go first?”

Kurt raised his hand. “I think we should outlaw Artie’s curtains.”

“Hey!”

“Everyone in favor say ‘aye’”

“Aye,” everyone chorused. 

“What’s wrong with my curtains?” Artie demanded.

“They’re bright red,” Mercedes said.

“So?”

“They hurt my eyes.”

Artie scoffed. “Blaine’s carpet is the same color.”

Blaine really didn’t want to be included in this. He knew that Kurt wasn’t the biggest fan of the rug either. Kurt had been particular about the curtains, insisting on a thick charcoal grey fabric. Blaine found them a little boring and said so. Kurt compromised by giving him full rights to pick out whichever rug he wanted, no complaints. When he had shown up with a rug the color of Ronald McDonald’s hair, Kurt just forced on a smile and told him it was fine. Blaine’s counting down the day until he cracks. 

“Yes,” Kurt said. “And we are dealing with that privately. Besides, you wouldn’t even know that if you hadn’t snuck in our room last night.”

“Well–”

“Guys,” Quinn said forcefully. “We are not rehashing that fight.” She turned to look at Rachel. “Don’t write down the curtain thing.”

Rachel nodded and crossed out something on her list. 

Quinn looked back at Artie. 

“What Kurt and Blaine put in their bedroom is their business. Your curtains are visible in the public area which makes them our problem. They don’t mesh well with the rest of the apartment. We all voted. If you don’t want to take them down, we aren’t responsible for what might happen to them.”

Artie frowned but didn’t protest. 

“Great,” Puck said. “Are we done now?”

“No,” Rachel said. “I haven’t even written anything down yet.”

Santana groaned.

“I have one,” Finn said.

“Go on.”

“I think everyone should get a heads up before anyone new comes over, like guests, or whatever.”

Rachel nodded and started writing it down.

“Wait, we didn’t even vote,” Puck said.

“Say ‘aye,’” Santana said, looking bored.

“Aye,” said everyone except for Puck.

“Great, what if I wanna have a girl over?” Puck asked. 

“Then text us a heads up,” Mercedes said. “I don’t want a stranger here, especially since I can’t exactly lock my room.”

“Fine,” Puck huffed, crossing his arms. 

“Anything else?” Rachel asked.

“I think we should rule out having kids,” Puck said.

“What happened to no rules?” Mike asked. 

“If I’m gonna have restrictions on my personal life then so will everyone else.”

Mercedes rolled her eyes. “You do realize the no unapproved guests rule applies to us also?”

“Yeah, but you guys are still getting some.”

Mercedes scrunched her nose. “I’m celibate.” 

“Bummer, I am, too, now.”

“Pull yourself together, man,” Mike said, patting him on the back. 

“Everyone ready to vote?” Rachel asked.

“Wait,” Santana interjected. “I think just the breeders should vote. I’m not having any kids, and I don’t care enough to stop you all from having any.”

“Wait,” Rachel said. “Does Brittany and Tina get a vote?”

“I don’t see why not,” Quinn said.

“Well, they’re not going to have children.”

“Not in our current relationships, but there’s always the chance we break up and find other people,” Tina said. She looked at Quinn. “I mean probably not, but, you know.”

Santana looked disgusted. “Also, I can have kids. My babymaker still works even if I’m not using it.”

“So shouldn’t you still have a vote then?” Mike asked, looking confused.

“No, because I don’t want them.”

“Ok, but maybe Kurt and Blaine want kids. Or Quinn. We shouldn’t rule everyone out just because you happen to not want kids.”

“Oh my god. I don’t even care. Everyone who wants to vote just do it so I can go to bed.”

Alright,” Rachel said. “All those in favor of having a ‘no kids’ rule say ‘aye.’”

“Aye,” everyone said together. 

“Great work, everyone. This has been a successful first–”

Santana stood up abruptly and hopped over the back of the couch. She walked straight through the curtain. It blew back behind her. Brittany also hopped over the back of the couch, but she smiled at everyone in front of her room.

“Goodnight, guys,” she said as she walked through.

“Goodnight.”

They all took the hint and started towards their rooms. 

Blaine stopped before entering his room and watched as Rachel took her sheet with rules on it and pinned it up to the bulletin. She stood there for a second admiring it before walking hurriedly to her own room, smiling to herself. 

“The first of many,” Blaine whispered to an empty room.

* * *

Rachel was woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of what she thinks is Finn choking. 

She rolled over and grabbed his face. He’s still sleeping so she starts slapping gently at his face quickly to wake him up. 

He blearily opened his eyes. The wheezing sound didn’t stop completely, but now they seem to be coming from the other side of the room.

“Wha–”

“Are you okay?” Rachel asked quietly. She held his face in her hands.

“Yeah, I’m...fine. Are you okay?”

“You were making this weird noise. I think you were choking. Did you eat anything before bed?”

“What? No.” He scrunched his nose up. “Wait. Oh, I tend to snore sometimes. Usually it clears up when I sleep on my back.” He stopped and listened. “It looks like I’m not the only one. Ah, well.” He shrugged. “My mom snores. I’m used to it.”

He rolled over and fell back to sleep almost instantly.

Rachel didn’t move for a moment, just listened.

Finn began snoring again. 

“Aw, shoot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The kids are struggling. They'll get used to it, they just need some boundaries. Thanks for reading!!


	4. Past and Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you have to fight your demons alone, but most of the time, you shouldn't have to.

Rachel gave up trying to fall asleep when the first rays of sunlight made her room glow a faint pink. 

She was used to her house being dead silent at night. Her dads usually went to sleep at around the same time she did and woke up after she had already left for school. Granted, most nights she only got around six hours, a mix of hyperactivity and superfluous routines making her both a night owl and an early riser, but only getting a couple hours a night was starting to weigh on her. 

She sat up in bed and straightened out her shirt. 

According to her phone, it was her normal wake up time anyway. 

She padded quietly to the kitchen and began trying to figure out the coffee machine. She chose the option for hot water, hoping a tea would help wake her up. 

The cup was half full when she remembered there was no tea. There was no food either. They had planned on going shopping today. 

She groaned and turned off the coffee maker, poured the hot water down the sink, and sank into the couch. Her face rested in her folded arms. It was strangely comfortable. Being away from Finn dulled the snoring and she was  _ so _ exhausted. Maybe she had time for a nap…

* * *

Finn woke up cold. He reached around the bed for more blankets and, after finding none, lifted his head off his pillow to look around the bed. 

He noticed that Rachel was gone and someone had taken almost all the blankets off the bed, leaving him with only a thin undersheet. 

Finding no way to get back to sleep, he rolled himself out of bed and shuffled to the living room. There, laying in a pile on the couch, was his comforter. 

He reached out to grab it only to be stopped by someone stage whispering his name from across the room.

“Finn, no!”

He dropped his hand. 

Artie, Kurt, Blaine, Mercedes, and Mike were all standing in a semicircle in the kitchen watching him. 

“Why not?” Finn whined. “I wanna go back to sleep.”

Mike looked down at the pile of blankets. “Rachel’s in there. I woke up and found her sitting there, fast asleep and shivering. I hope you don’t mind, but we went into your room and took one of your blankets.”

Finn lifted the blankets a little bit, and, sure enough, there she was. He noticed that her face was flat on the table and cringed a little. She was going to wake up hurting if she kept sleeping like that. He tried to smush a little bit of the blanket under her head as a makeshift pillow. When he was satisfied, he turned back to Mike. “It’s cool. Why’d she fall asleep out here?” 

“Oh.”

Finn looked to Mercedes. She seemed surprised. 

“You don’t know? We thought you got in a fight or something.”

Finn thought back to last night. She had woken him up over...something. He had been half asleep at the time, but he didn’t remember her being mad.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I did anything, but she can be a little...temperamental, you know?”

“Never noticed.”

Finn looked to Kurt. He was about to reply when something occurred to him. Something about his brother looked...wrong. It was like he had aged a year overnight. 

He was about to ask when it hit him.

“Your hair is different.”

It wasn’t an obvious change, but Finn knew he was right. It looked softer, but still styled with some sort of product. The part was more pronounced than usual and it naturally pushed all the hair to one side. Finn thought it made him look a bit older, more mature, maybe.

Kurt smiled at him.

“Yeah, I like to change it up a bit every year to fit the trend. Gotta keep ‘em guessing right?”

Finn shrugged. 

“I don’t know, man, I have like five different outfits. The last time I got a new haircut was when I was thirteen. Everyday since then I’ve just looked like, you know, this.”

He gestured down his body. 

Kurt walked towards him and held up his hands, looking at his hair. Finn bent his knees a little so Kurt could reach.

Finn closed his eyes. He  _ loved  _ it when people ran their hands through his hair, but no one had done it since he was little. Due to his height, most people expected him to do the affectionate patting. It was very disheartening. He was feeling very relaxed when Kurt said,

“You have a lot to work with. It’s a good length if I wanted to cut it.”

Finn pulled away. “Wait, cut it? I never said I wanted you to change it.”

Kurt’s eyes widened. “Oh. I thought that’s what you were implying.”

They were quiet for a moment.

“So do you?” 

“Do I what?”

“Want me to cut your hair.”

“Oh.” Finn thought about it for a minute. On one hand, he was starting at a new school. If Kurt messed up his hair, he would never forgive him. On the other hand, he had wanted to change up his appearance a little. His plan had been to dress a little nicer, but a haircut could do that with less effort.

“Well–”

“Thank god.”

He turned back to the living room. Rachel was awake and staring at him.

“We need to talk.”

Finn tried to remember their conversation last night again. He looked back at his friends with wide eyes.

“Maybe we are fighting…”

Mercedes huffed out a laugh. “Good luck.”

Rachel stood up and walked towards him shakily. “You kept me up all last night.”

I really don’t wanna be here for this,” Kurt said. 

Rachel crossed her arms. “Not like that. He snores. Loudly.”

Finn felt indignant. “Yeah, I know. I can’t help it. I didn’t know it was such a big deal. No one’s ever complained about it before. My mom thought it was cute. She used to call me her little trumpet.”

“Aww,” Mike and Artie said together.

“That’s very cute,” Rachel conceded, playing with his shirt. “But I can’t live like this. You need to fix this.”

“That’s not fair, Rachel,” Mercedes said.

“Yeah,” Blaine added. “He’s not doing it on purpose.”

Finn was surprised he was defending him. Apparently Rachel was too because she got mad all over again. 

“Well, of course  _ you’d _ say that!” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked.

“You snore even louder than Finn.”

Blaine laughed. “No I don’t.”

“No offense,” Artie said. “But you kinda do. Don’t worry. It doesn’t bother me though. My mom snores, too.”

Blaine looked up at Kurt. “Really?” 

Kurt shrugged. 

“I’ve never noticed.”

“How?” Rachel asked. “He literally sleeps, like, on top of you.”

“I don’t know. Dad and Finn both snored. Guess I’m just used to it.” He shrugged again then looked thoughtful. “Hey, wait. How do you even know that?”

“I went in your room last night,” Rachel said. 

“You can’t do that!”

“Then lock your door.”

“You know I can’t. Hey! Don’t walk away from me, Rachel Berry.” He followed after her. 

Finn leaned over to Blaine. 

“They’re gonna wake up the whole house.”

Blaine actually looked surprised for a moment, then he smiled.

“What?” Finn asked.

“Nothing,” he said, obviously trying to make his expression more even. “Just looking forward to everyone getting up. I’m really hungry.”

Finn patted his stomach, realizing he was really hungry, too. 

“I can run over to McDonald’s again?”

Before Blaine could respond, Rachel and Kurt brought their fight back over to the kitchen. 

Finn held his hands up, palms out. “To be fair, you guys also went into my room without asking.”

“I didn’t, that was Mike.”

“Don’t bring me into this.”

Kurt glared at her.

“Fine,” she conceded. “I’m sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I also went into Brittany and Santana’s room.”

“You did what?”

“One of them snored, too. I had to know who.”

“You  _ really  _ didn’t Rachel.”

They both stopped arguing for a second. Kurt seemed to be waiting for something. “So which of them was it?” 

“Santana, obviously.”

“Obviously.”

“ _ Excuse me? _ ”

Finn cringed and turned around. Santana at the entrance to her bedroom, still in her pajamas, but looking wide awake.

“How long have you been standing there?” Rachel asked.

“Not long. I’ve been awake since before you got up though.”

“And you’ve just been listening?”

Santana shrugged. “You learn things.”

“That’s so creepy,” Mercedes muttered.

“Look, we don’t have coffee and I need at least three hours before I can deal with you people without it.”

“Still not okay,” Mike said.

“Debatable. I’ll ask again.  _ Excuse me _ ?”

Rachel held her hands out defensively. “I was so bored and you were loud. I was curious, sue me.”

“I probably could,” she said then sighed. “But I won’t. I need you to pay rent. But this better not happen again.”

“It won’t.”

“Good,” Santana smiled. “When are you getting food? I’m starving.”

She went into the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her.

They were all silent for a moment.

“Why do I feel exposed?” Artie asked.

Finn shrugged.

* * *

Mercedes squinted at the sunlight as she stepped out onto the street. She, Kurt, Finn, Rachel, and Santana had all volunteered to do the grocery shopping for the whole apartment. 

The five of them were the most particular about what food they ate. Mercedes, herself, was very particular about the quality. She didn’t trust anyone to not get store brand. 

They ended up leaving much later than planned to buy groceries. Every time they stepped a foot out the door, someone would remember another thing they needed to add to their list. Three times it was Sam. He was lucky she was the one holding his list otherwise he would have been turned down. She was secretly a little pleased though. She got four goodbye kisses.

“What are you thinking about?” Kurt asked, falling into step next to her. 

“Nothing,” she said. “How far down is the store?”

“I don’t know. I thought you saw it on your walk yesterday.”

“No, it was Rachel who saw it, I think. Wait a second,” she looked over her shoulder. “RACHEL...HEY, RACHEL, WHERE ARE WE GOING?”

“HEY!” A man across the street shouted. “QUIET DOWN! YOU'RE SCARING MY KID!”

Mercedes felt her heart stop. She felt frozen. Her brain shut down and all she could think was to run. This had never happened before. She was psyching herself up to apologize when

“WHY DON”T YOU SHUT UP, APPLEBEES,” Santana shouted. “MY FRIEND HERE WAS JUST TALKING, MIND YOUR BUSINESS.”

Kurt nudged her. “Santana, please don’t upset him more.”

Her friends were all standing in front of her. They’d never done that before. She must really look scared. Or maybe, she realized, they thought he was actually a threat. 

She peeked over Rachel’s shoulder

The man flipped them but continued pushing his stroller down the street.

She pressed a hand to her chest. Her heart was beating really fast. She let out a breath. 

With him gone, it felt almost silly how scared she was. Her friends probably thought it was weak, that she just stood there and took it. Besides, what was that to a slushie? Those things can cause actual physical damage. 

If that’s all true, why hasn’t she caught her breath yet?

She tuned back into reality.

“That’s what I thought,” Santana muttered to herself.

Kurt put an arm around Mercedes’ shoulders. “People can be so rude.”

She slumped a little. “I don’t know, I kinda deserved it. We don’t live in Lima anymore, there are people everywhere. I have to be more respectful.”

Kurt shook her slightly. “Hey, don’t say that. New York is meant to be the city that never sleeps. It’s always loud. He’s an asshole that probably honks his horn at red lights.”

Mercedes didn’t reply, but she smiled a little.

* * *

Kurt was still worried about Mercedes when they entered the store, so when Rachel suggested they split up, he volunteered to go with her. 

“I call Mercedes.”

Finn shrugged. “Sure, I’ll go with Rachel. Santana, who do you wanna–”

“I’ll go alone,” Santana said, already walking away.

Finn cast Kurt a nervous glance. 

Kurt sighed and grabbed Mercedes' hand. 

“We’ll follow her, meet back here in an hour.”

He followed after her, making sure to stay back enough that he could talk to Mercedes privately. “Are you okay?”

Mercedes sighed and looked at the ground. “I mean...no. I’ve never been yelled at by a stranger before, not like that.” 

Kurt knew what she meant. When the kids at school made fun of him, they weren’t quiet about it, but they didn’t yell. They hadn’t needed to. It was scary enough on its own. But this grown man had felt the need to. He had looked at Kurt’s best friend and decided she was taking up too much of his world. And just when he thought they’d gotten out of feeling afraid every day. 

Kurt knew their problems weren’t exactly the same, but he had to reassure her somehow. “I know how you feel...well, it’s not the same, but, isn’t it? I don’t know. When it was at its worst with Karofsky, I could hardly stand to get up in the morning. I knew the minute I walked into that school that I’d have to be looking over my shoulder. I also knew that even if I saw him coming, it didn't matter, because he was gonna do what he wanted to anyway. I felt like I had no power, but let me tell you, I did, but I didn’t use it, so I left. It’s my biggest regret and–” 

“Wait,” Mercedes interrupted him. “What power? You told everybody he threatened to kill you and they didn’t do anything. What else could you possibly have on him?”

Kurt felt like a deer in headlights. He hadn’t meant to say that. He was trying to inspire her to be stubborn and strong but still cautious and he didn’t like the turn around. “Nothing. I meant metaphorically.”

“Kurt.”

She didn’t believe him. It made him nervous. He’d never lied to her before.

“It was nothing. I just knew something he didn’t want me to. I was trying to say–”

“Kurt.”

“Fine, just give a second.”

He knew logically that they would probably never see Karofsky again, not if he had any say in it. Karofsky’s secret didn’t have any power anymore, he reasoned, because Karofsky was hundreds of miles away. He would never know if Kurt told someone. 

Besides, it’s not like Mercedes was going to hunt him down. It wasn’t as big of a deal as it had felt at the time. Sometimes he still thought about it, but it didn’t replay in his mind every second of every day anymore. He was getting better. Hopefully, soon, he wouldn’t even remember it happened.

“Back in junior year, like three weeks before I transferred, Karofsky and I had a little...confrontation in the bathroom. He said some things, I said some things, and then he, uh, he–he kissed me.” Kurt looked at the ground. He didn’t want to see her reaction. She had to be grossed out, right? Kissed by Karofsky in a locker room. It made him feel disgusting just thinking about it. 

“What?” Mercedes asked. She sounded scared. 

“I don’t really wanna say it again.”

“He kissed you in the locker room?”

“Yeah,” Kurt laughed a little, admiring the shelves. “You know, I don’t like it better when you say it.”

She didn’t laugh with him.

“Kurt…” 

He finally made eye contact with her. She looked like she wanted to cry. 

“What?” he asked. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Kurt, it is, you have to know it is.”

“So he was my first kiss. Who cares? Not everyone gets a fairytale first kiss. I’ve accepted that I didn’t.”

“That wasn’t a first kiss, Kurt. That was sexual assault.”

He dropped the can he was holding. It clattered on the ground. He bent down to pick it up, apologizing to the people around them. 

He waited until no one was looking to respond. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. That’s not possible.”

“Oh,” Mercedes raised an eyebrow. “So you consented to the kiss?”

“Well, no, but–”

“Did you want him to kiss you?”

“No, but–”

“Then it was sexual assault. Kurt, we need to tell someone about this.”

“I did. I told Blaine.”

“He was sixteen and clueless. Hell, he’s still clueless. Did you tell an adult? Your dad?”

“No…”

“Why not?”

“Because I feel gross, okay? Because whenever I think about it, I feel like I need to take a shower. If I had to talk to an adult about it, I’d...I don’t know.”

Kurt couldn’t even imagine telling an adult. The day it happened, he had considered telling his dad, but they still hadn’t been very comfortable discussing his sexuality together. If he had told him and his dad thought he was disgusting...

“Do you feel gross right now?”

“Kinda.”

“Kurt, I’m gonna tell you something. I want you to listen very carefully.”

He nodded. 

“I had my first kiss during the summer between junior and senior year.”

“I already know all this.”

“Shhhh,” she said, putting her hand over his mouth. “I told you to listen.”

He nodded and she pulled her hand away.

“So, anyway. As you know, it was with Sam. We were at my house, alone, just talking on my couch when I noticed he was staring at me and not saying anything. I asked him if something was wrong and he said that he just really wanted to kiss me. I leaned in and he leaned in and–”

“Excuse me?”

Kurt turned around. 

A lady behind him pointed to something just above his head. “Can you hand that to me?”

He grabbed it and held it out to her.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

He looked back at Mercedes. 

“You do realize we are in the middle of a grocery store, right?”

She glared at him. “No jokes. I’m still talking.”

He sighed and leaned against the shelf.

“It was my first kiss, and you know how it felt?”

He rolled his eyes at the fairy tale of it all. “Amazing?” he guessed. 

“Awkward. I had no idea what I was doing. He’d had girlfriends before, but I wasn’t like them. I had no experience. The thing is, for me, and I think for him, too, it didn’t matter. My first kiss was going to be awkward no matter who it was with, but I still think I had the best first kiss ever though, because it was with Sam, who I loved. Still love.”

Kurt shook his head. He’s had kisses like that. Why did it matter that his first one wasn’t? “Mercedes, I know what it's like to kiss someone–”

“How did you feel when Karofsky kissed you?”

He had felt scared. He had felt like Karofsky could do whatever he wanted and he was powerless to stop it. His thoughts must have shown on his face because Mercedes pointed at him.

“Exactly. Does Blaine make you feel like that?”

“No...”

“Then maybe it’s not normal.”

Kurt really considered what she said for the first time. Sexually assaulted. It’s such a big accusation for what he had always thought of as a small offense, but Mercedes was right. Why did he feel this way?

He pushed past her.

“C’mon, we should actually start shopping. Finn and Rachel are expecting us to be done in forty-five minutes, and you’ve wasted fifteen minutes trying to solve a crime that didn’t even happen.”

Her face fell and he regretted saying it instantly. She had already been berated today. He would be no better than him if he left it like that. 

“I’m sorry,” he reached out his hand. “That was mean. You’re a good friend for caring, but we have other things to deal with right now.”

She smiled a little and took his hand. “Just don’t let it happen again.”

“Of course not.”

They wandered down the dairy aisle, scouring the freezers for the things on the lists they had been given. 

Kurt didn’t say anything. His thoughts were still racing. He kept accidentally picking up the wrong thing only to be corrected by Mercedes. 

Every few minutes, he felt tears well up, but he refused to cry, here, in front of the people just trying to buy yogurt. 

Mercedes looked like she finally was going to say something about it when they heard a crash from across the store followed by loud yelling. 

He looked at her.

“Santana.”

* * *

“I can’t believe you got us kicked out of the store,” Mercedes said. 

Santana looked offended. “Incorrect.  _ I  _ got kicked out of the store.  _ You _ continued shopping and pretended not to know me.”

Mercedes ignored her. “And how did you knock over a whole display of cans anyway? Those things are heavy.”

Santana shrugged. “I lost control of my cart.”

“Sure.”

“It’s true.”

“Mmm.”

“Well, I’m just glad we got everything,” Rachel said. “It’s just a shame that everything meant three carts worth of food.”

Mercedes shook her shoulders. The weight of the bags were making them go numb. “We could have asked to borrow the cart if someone hadn’t gotten kicked out and made us seem shady.”

“I said sorry for that.”

“When?”

“Just now.”

Mercedes groaned. 

She put her bags down and held the door open for everyone else. Finn went through first and bounded up the stairs two at a time. 

Mercedes frowned after him. 

“Why’d he take the stairs?”

Santana shook her head.

“I don’t know. All the boys do. I think it’s some macho thing.”

Mercedes thought about it. She hadn’t seen any of the boys take the elevator, either.

“But the elevator is so much easier.”

“I know,” Santana said, shrugging. “It makes them look more like idiots than anything, but I’m not gonna tell them to stop. I think Artie’s playing them.” 

They started walking to the elevator. 

“What do you mean?” Rachel asked.

“He gets carried up the stairs like a king. Plus, it makes Finn feel guilty for picking a place that’s accessible.”

“But that’s not true,” Rachel protested. 

They reached the elevator. 

Santana hit the button. “Who cares. Artie’ll get sick of it and tell them eventually. Besides, you have to admit, it’s a little bit funny.”

Rachel cracked a smile. “Maybe a little.”

The elevator opened and they all got in. Mercedes pushed the button for their floor. 

“Let’s just hope Kurt’s there when we get back,” Santana said.

Mercedes felt a stab of guilt. When they realized it would take more than one trip to take all the groceries back to the apartment, Kurt had volunteered to stay back. She had tried to volunteer with him, but Santana pointed out that it didn’t make any sense to leave two people back when they already had a big load. 

She would have fought harder, but she needed time to herself, too, to think. In hindsight, traveling with three other people wasn’t the best way to go about getting privacy. 

“Do you think he seemed off when we left him?” Rachel asked.

“He seemed pretty upset, but that’s pretty much the norm for him.”

“Santana...” Mercedes warned.

“I’m kidding. You do know I wouldn’t make fun of you guys so much if I didn’t like you, right?”

“You made fun of us when you didn’t like us, too. You always have. Remember sophomore year?”

Mercedes waited for her to deny it, but Santana didn’t say anything. 

“Awww,” Rachel said, placing a hand on her heart. 

“Never tell anyone else that.”

“We won’t, Santana. I’d never tell anyone how much you  _ love _ us.”

Santana rolled her eyes.

“You’re never mean to Brittany,” Mercedes pointed out.

“So?”

“So you like her.”

“Well, Brittany gives me something you guys could never provide.”

“Which is?” Rachel asked. 

The door opened. 

“The will to live.”

“Hey!”

Mercedes genuinely laughed for the first time all day. 

* * *

Kurt had wanted to go lie down as soon as he got home, but he had promised that morning to make the first home cooked New York dinner and, despite how crappy he felt, he wasn’t willing to let someone else steal that spot. 

Everyone else was playing video games on the couch. Kurt didn’t really know what was going on, fighting games were never really his thing, but there was a lot of yelling. The sound was almost nice. It drowned out his thoughts.

Mercedes had cornered him in his room as soon as they got home, telling him she was always available to talk. He shrugged but told her the same thing. He figured it was fair that he didn’t really want to talk about his problems. She didn’t seem to want to either. 

He was pounding the chicken, trying not to be too aggressive, when he felt arms wrap around his waist. 

“You keep hitting it that hard, it’s gonna turn into soup.”

Kurt smiled.

“Soup usually isn’t made of raw chicken, but I’ll keep that in mind if you ever offer to cook for me.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t put you through that. I’m a terrible chef. Get distracted too easily.”

“You? Distracted? Never.”

“Shut up.”

Kurt laughed.

Blaine hummed. 

He could feel the vibrations of it on his shoulder. 

“But seriously. I can't. My mom’s tried to teach me like a million times. She still gags when I bring up the dinner I made her when I was six.”

Kurt laughed again, but it felt forced. He can’t believe she still holds on to that twelve years later. He wonders how long it will take before she stops remembering with any emotional attachment. 

“Hey, you good?

“Yeah, I’m great, just trying to remember the recipe.”

“Mmmm, okay, I’ll stop bothering you.” He pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Love you.”

Kurt took Mercedes' advice and thought about how the kiss made him feel. He was still uncomfortable, but less than before Blaine had come over. His face was warm where his lips had been and, for the second the kiss had lasted, his mind had gone blissfully blank. Kurt couldn’t figure out if that was a good thing. His mind had gone blank with Karofsky, too. 

Blaine was still holding his waist like he was waiting for something. 

Kurt’s brain caught up with him. “Love you, too.”

“That’s better.”

“Blaine!” Sam called from the living room. “I need your help.”

“Coming!” Blaine released his waist and jogged back to the living room. “What’d I miss?”

Kurt went back to smashing the chicken. 

* * *

“I’m probably going to snore again tonight,” Finn warned. 

Rachel patted his arm. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll have to get used to it eventually.”

Finn smiled. “You’re the best.” 

“I know. Go to sleep, I’m tired.”

He kissed her cheek and rolled over onto his back. “Goodnight.”

Rachel waited. 

Within five minutes, he started snoring. 

Rachel rolled off the bed and searched her purse. When she found what she was looking for, she climbed back in bed. 

“Goodnight,” she said and stuck the plugs as far in as they would go into her ears. 

She slept well that night. 

* * *

Kurt watched Blaine as he slept. He wondered if Blaine ever thought about the kiss, too. He hoped he didn’t, for both their sakes.

* * *

Mercedes watched Sam as he slept. She hadn’t told him about the man on the street. He had no idea what the world was like for her, for Kurt, for people like them. She hoped he was grateful. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't mean for this to have actual problems in it, but I guess this got away from me a little. I promise this won't become really angsty. The next chapter will focus more on some of the characters that weren't really in this one. This chapter was meant to span the whole week, but everything took longer than planned and I want chapters to stay around 5K words. Hopefully, this starts picking up a little because otherwise it'll be over 100K words and I had hoped for like 50K words. Thanks for reading, y'all!


	5. The Future is Overrated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's really hard to pull yourself together when everyone else is just as clueless as you are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. College started back up again, and I didn't have WiFi for a couple a days. Oh, well. Hopefully after this my schedule balances out again. In the meantime, enjoy!

It was lunchtime on her fourth day in New York and Tina was feeling great. It had only been three days, but she was already getting into her new daily routine. 

Even more importantly, Rachel had gotten everything on her list yesterday which meant she had all the ingredients to make her favorite comfort sandwich: the triple decker. It took four slices of bread, two full bananas, peanut butter, jelly, and fluff. It was sweet enough to give her a cavity, but her dad always made it for her on important events as a comfort food, and Tina decided her first homemade lunch in her new house was big enough to warrant it. 

All her friends were already sitting down when she went over to join them. 

She was about to take her first bite when Santana shot her a disgusted look. 

“Are you really gonna eat that?”

Quinn nudged her. “She can eat what she wants.”

Tina smiled. “Thank you.”

She went back to eating her sandwich. It brought her back to all the times she had eaten it before. The first day of kindergarten, fifth grade trip to the zoo, the day of her first sleepover in eighth grade, her last day of highschool. 

She was going for the second half when she noticed Santana was still watching her. 

“What?”

“Nothing, I just can’t believe anyone would eat that willingly,” Santana said, shrugging. She was picking at her salad. “I’ve never even tried half the things in that.”

Tina remembered Quinn complaining about how restrictive her old Cheerios diet was. They hadn’t even been allowed artificial sweeteners, nevermind real sugar.

“Do you wanna try it?” She asked, holding out the other half. 

Santana looked skeptical. “I don’t know. What if I’m allergic?”

Tina impatiently waved the sandwich around a little. “I have an Epi-Pen. C’mon, Santana, live a little. Sue’s not gonna show up with a scale. It’s good, I promise.”

“I guess,” Santana took the sandwich and considered it. She looked back at Tina. “I’ve never had a lady cook for me before.”

Tina rolled her eyes. “Just eat it.”

Santana took a bite. She chewed for a second before her eyes grew wider.

“Good?” She asked.

“So good,” Santana said through another bite. “I haven’t had anything with real sugar in almost a year.”

Tina felt kind of bad for breaking her streak, but if Santana wasn’t mad, it was probably okay. 

She looked around the table. There was an empty spot between Blaine and Mercedes. 

“Where’s Kurt?”

Blaine turned away from the TV to respond. “He’s still sleeping, I think.”

Tina checked the clock. “He’s still sleeping? It’s nearly one in the afternoon.”

He shrugs. “I think he’s still having trouble sleeping. When I woke up this morning, he was still awake...or, at least, I think he was. His breathing was all wrong and he was dead silent. I don’t know. That was like six hours ago.”

Tina nodded. She felt like her and Kurt were close, but she didn’t exactly monitor his sleeping habits. Besides, if this was his normal, it wasn’t really her place to judge. She slept like a rock. If she didn’t get a solid eight hours, nothing could wake her. 

“It’s gross to me that you know that,” Santana said, licking her fingers clean. 

Tina was a bit disappointed. She hadn’t planned on getting the sandwich back after basically giving it away, but she was still hungry. 

She felt a nudge. Quinn held out her remaining clementine slices. Tina took three with a smile. Quinn smiled back.

“That’s what couples do. They...notice each other, pick up on each other’s habits,” Quinn said.

Santana scoffed. “I know that, obviously. I just don’t want the world to know.”

Tina didn’t think she believed that. Santana never hesitated. She said whatever she wanted even if it was hurtful. Especially if it was hurtful. “Why not?”

To her surprise, Quinn answered for her. “Some things are private, only for between two people, you know?”

Tina didn’t know. She liked talking about her relationships, maybe a little too much sometimes. 

When she and Quinn had first gotten together, Mercedes blocked her number after she sent hundred texts in a row about how pretty Quinn looked in her Halloween costume, an incident for which she had later apologized for. 

It was news to her that Quinn was more private. Tina had figured her girlfriend was just as open as she was.

“What do you mean? Do you not like that I talk about you?”

Quinn raised her eyebrows. “You talk about me?”

“Well, yeah, we’re dating. I thought it was the same for you…”

“I mean, I talk about you, sometimes. It’s just different for me, you know?”

Tina didn’t know whether she should be offended or not. “No, I don’t know, and, frankly, I don’t like what you’re implying.”

“I’m not implying anything. I’m sorry, that came out wrong. What I meant was: we have different comfort levels. I just don’t want this to be like my last relationships.”

She could understand that. Quinn had privately shared with her that all of the boys she had dated were specifically chosen to maintain her popularity. Puck had been more of a wildcard, but her reasons for sleeping with him were a little muddled. 

“It’s okay,” Tina bumped her nose against Quinn’s. Quinn went cross eyed. “I don’t want us to be like your last relationships either.”

Laughter from the other side of the table snapped Tina out of their bubble. Sam and Puck were cackling at Finn, who was looking around the room, stupefied with the pair of glasses resting on his nose.

“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” Quinn said. 

“He doesn’t,” Mike said, reaching to take them off Finn’s face and onto his own. “They’re Artie’s. He’s letting all of us try them on.” His eyes widened as he looked around the room. “Woah.”

“Trippy, right?” Finn asked. “It’s like looking through a magnifying glass.”

“No, I mean everything’s so clear.” Mike looked across the table at Tina. “Like I can see individual pieces of hair. It’s not just a giant blob.”

“Umm, buddy,” Sam said, reaching to take the glasses for himself. “I think you just might need glasses.”

“Maybe…” He looked unsure. “I’ve always had problems reading the board. I just figured everyone was like that, I guess.”

“Can you see individual leaves on a tree, like, from a distance?” Rachel asked.

“Can you?” 

“Yeah.”

“Now hold on,” Blaine interrupted, leaning forward to rest his arms on the table. “You guys must just have really good vision, like 20/15, 20/10 because _I_ can’t see individual leaves. It’s just, like, a blob of color.”

“Or maybe,” Mercedes said. “You guys are both blind. There’s no quota for people with bad eyesight, you know?”

Tina knew she had good vision. Her parents took her to the optometrist once every two years. That didn’t stop her from wanting to try on Artie’s glasses. She lunged for them. 

“Hey,” Sam complained, but he didn’t stop her from taking them, so she figured she was still doing alright.

It was just as weird as she thought it would be. The ground was simultaneously too close and too far away. She feared for her safety if she stood up, so she remained rooted to the chair. “Wow, Artie, your vision sucks.”

He gently pulled them off her face and placed them gently back on his nose. “I know, but it’s always been like this. I don’t really know any other way.”

“Why don’t you get contacts...or at least glasses with thinner rims.”

He shrugged. “They go with my look.”

“Meh,” Santana said.

“Guys,” Mike said. He was now standing by the window in the kitchen, peering down at the tree planted in the sidewalk. “I think I should go see a doctor or something.”

“Me, too,” Blaine added from next to him. 

Mike slapped him on the shoulder. Tina winced, but Blaine didn’t seem to mind. “If we both need to go, we might as well go together before school starts. I’ll find a place and we can schedule appointments as soon as possible.”

Blaine looked a little cheered. “Sure, I’m available everyday until next Monday.”

“I know,” Mike said. He patted his shoulder again, a little gentler this time. “We all are.”

“We’re all what?” Kurt asked, appearing from behind his curtains. 

“Hey!” Finn shouted. 

Kurt smiled at them weakly. “Hey, Finn. What’s going on?”

“We all tried on Artie’s glasses. My vision’s fine, but Mike and Blaine think they can’t see, so they’re going to the eye doctor together.”

“Oh.”

It’s silent for a moment. 

“How are you doing?” Mercedes asked. She looked sadder than she had earlier.

Kurt tried for a brighter smile, but it still didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure because–”

“I’m sure.” He looked at Finn. “Have you put more thought into letting me cut your hair?”

“Oh, yeah,” Finn still looked hesitant. “I think…” He paused for a second to analyze Kurt. “I think it’s a great idea.”

Kurt seemed genuinely cheered at the idea. “Great.” He clapped his hands. “I’ll go set up in the bathroom.” 

When he was out of the room with the door shut, Tina asked, “Did he seem weird to you?”

“Yeah,” Finn said. “I think he’s sick or something. He was all shaky on the walk back yesterday.”

“Only since the walk?” Blaine asked. “He won’t even look at me. I mean, he looks at me, just not _at_ me, you know?”

“No.”

Blaine rolled his eyes. “I mean like my eyes.”

“Maybe he doesn’t like them,” Puck suggested.

Tina felt offended on Blaine’s behalf. “No he does, he told me.”

Blaine looked a little cheered. “Aww.”

“I thought it was weird yesterday when he volunteered to be left alone. He hasn’t chosen to be alone since sophomore year when he was all depressed,” Rachel said. She nudged Mercedes. “You were with him yesterday the most before he started acting off. Did you notice anything?”

Mercedes looked nervous to be in the spotlight. “Uh, no, I didn’t notice anything. We were having a good time before it was time to go.”

Rachel looked satisfied, but Tina wasn’t so sure. For all her acting talent, Mercedes was a notoriously bad liar. Her voice shook, she made excuses, she deflected, and she tended to just restate facts everybody already knew. It was painfully obvious that she was hiding something. 

Tina didn’t press her though. They were hanging out tomorrow and she couldn’t afford to make things awkward. 

“I’m sure he’s just adjusting,” she said. “He doesn’t have a job or anything yet. Once he finds his footing I’m sure he’ll just shrug it off.”

“That’s true,” Finn said. He seemed to realize something. “Oh, no. I can’t believe I agreed to let him cut my hair. He looked so sad, I couldn’t say no.”

Mike patted his arm. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. He’s been cutting hair for years, right? And besides, if you look stupid, just know that you’re invited to join us tomorrow.”

Tina nodded. She, Mike, Mercedes, Quinn, and Brittany had all scheduled appointments at a nearby hair salon for the next day. They all wanted a fresh start. She looked at Mercedes, who was also nodding, looking relieved.

Tina didn’t know what that meant, but she knew she didn’t like it. 

* * *

Mercedes felt conflicted. What do you do when a friend tells you about a secret? It didn’t help that the secret was actually a crime. Or was it a crime? How could she even report it if it was?

The anxiety of keeping everything to herself was making her antsy, so when Sam asked if she wanted to pin up their ads on the bulletin at the library, she jumped at the opportunity. 

They walked silently, hands swinging between them, until Mercedes couldn’t stand the silence anymore. 

“How are you liking New York?”

He jumped a bit at her voice, but quickly turned his surprise into an energetic skip. “A lot more than I thought I would. My folks couldn’t believe it when I said I was going to the big city. I couldn’t really either, I mean, I’m a country boy at heart.”

“I think you’re adaptable.”

“Very true. I’m a man of many talents.”

Mercedes giggled. Despite their sometimes rocky relationship status, talking with Sam had always been easy. He could hold a conversation with a wall.

Sam squeezed her hand. “Why are you asking? Having second thoughts?”

“No, of course not. This is the only place for me right now. I just wish it was safer, you know?”

“Yeah,” Sam said, letting go of her hand and swinging an arm across her shoulders instead. 

They arrived at the library. Mercedes and Sam printed out their flyers and pinned them to the already filled bulletin. 

“Do you actually have any credentials to give guitar lessons?” Mercedes asked once they left. 

“I can play the instrument. That’s all the newbies need to know to trust me,” Sam said. “And anyway, you’re one to talk. Do you have any experience babysitting?”

“I used to watch my sisters all the time.”

“They’re a year younger than you.”

“Incorrect. One of them is two years younger than me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, my bad.”

“Okay, you need to stop.”

Sam just laughed.

* * *

Finn desperately tried to make eye contact with Kurt in the mirror, but he seemed to be purposely ignoring him. The idea of going in blind to whatever his brother was going to do to him was terrifying on its own, but the fact that said brother also seemed incredibly nervous didn’t help matters.

“So...what are you going to do with it?”

Kurt hummed before answering, “I was just thinking I could cut it a bit in the front, so when you style it, it doesn’t look like it comes up at a point and instead looks even all around.”

“Oh, ok, cool. I’m just glad it’s nothing too big.”

“If I do it right, the difference should be negligible.”

“‘If I do it right.’ Can you have a little bit more confidence in your ability before I trust you with something this important? If this fails, I’ll just have to shave it all off. I don’t have that much hair to work with, you know.”

“You’re right,” Kurt said, running his fingers through Finn’s hair again. “I’m sorry. You should be enjoying yourself.”

Finn frowned and turned around. Kurt hasn’t given in that easy in years. The past two years of living together, they had really started getting used to being brothers and being brothers meant they fought like all siblings do. Conceding victory was never an option. 

“Hey, man, are you feeling okay?”

Kurt met his eyes for the first time since that morning. “I feel great. There’s just been lot’s of changes. I’ll get used to it, I promise.”

Finn turned back around, satisfied. “I get it. All this–The apartment, the roommates, college. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it.” He made eye contact with Kurt in the mirror. “At least this feels normal, right? Us living together?”

Kurt gave him a small smile and started wetting his hair. “It only took two years, but, yeah, I think being with you is the most normal part of being here.” He picked up the scissors.

Finn closed his eyes at the sound of the first snip.

* * *

Artie looked at himself in the reflection of his phone, turning his head from side to side. Something felt wrong. 

His friends were gathered near him, talking amongst themselves in excitement about their plans for tomorrow, school starting next week, and, most importantly, Finn’s new haircut.

They kept trying to touch his hair, but Finn kept batting their hands away and laughing. He tried to stand up on the couch for leverage, but Sam held him down and gave him a noogie.

Even Artie could admit he looked good. It was a lighter shade of brown, probably because it was no longer dripping in hairspray, and it definitely at least looked softer, less like the strands are glued together to stick straight up and more like it was gently combed to naturally fold over at an angle. 

Artie went back to watching his reflection, now gently prodding his bangs out of his face. They just fell right back into place as soon as he let go. 

He sighed in defeat and went with his next best option. 

“Hey, Kurt?”

Kurt looked up from where he was scrolling on his laptop, eyebrows raised.

“So you know how you did Finn’s hair?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, after much deliberation with the council–”

“Your mom?”

“Who else? After talking with her, I’ve decided that I want you to cut my hair, too.”

Kurt sighed and closed his laptop. “You guys know I’m not a hair stylist, right?” He scooted closer and began pushing Artie’s bangs out of his eyes. “Okay, sure.”

* * *

Blaine was restless. He had hoped it would start feeling more normal living with the New Directions by now, but he felt like he was more on the outs today than usual. It probably didn’t help that he was still calling them ‘the New Directions.’ Or that Sam and Mercedes had left for several hours in the middle of the day. It definitely didn't help that Kurt had been busy all day.

Blaine looked over to where his boyfriend was chopping onions. He had once again volunteered to make dinner for the night while everyone else fought over which movie they were watching that night. Technically, he was meant to be helping make the decision, but, to be fair, he really didn’t care. 

Blaine reasoned that Kurt probably wouldn’t mind a little distraction. He had been tense all day. 

He leaped over the back of the couch, accidentally jostling Finn. 

“Sorry,” he said, and patted Finn’s hair. It really was soft.

“It’s cool,” Finn said, patting his hand.

Kurt didn’t look up when Blaine entered the kitchen area. That’s fine. He walked up behind him and wrapped his arms across Kurt’s waist again. 

“Hey, so–”

Kurt flinched so hard his elbow jammed into Blaine’s ribcage, knocking all the air out of his lungs.

Blaine backed away immediately, folding his arms over his stomach protectively. 

“Oh my god,” he heard Santana say. It sounded distant. 

Blaine felt someone grab his upper arms and gently sit him on the ground. 

“Are you okay?” It was Sam.

“Yeah,” Blaine said, panting heavily to catch his breath. 

“I’m so sorry,” Kurt said. He sat down in front of him. He took Blaine’s hands and put them in his lap. “It was an accident, I promise.”

Blaine rubbed his thumb along Kurt’s knuckles. “It’s okay, just wasn’t expecting it.”

“Aww,” Santana said, sitting back down on the couch. “He takes your breath away. How charming.”

Blaine chuckled awkwardly. 

Sam let go of his shoulders but stayed squatting next to him. “Are you sure you’re okay? My brother once punched my sister hard in the stomach for breaking his LEGO car. She had an asthma attack for like an hour.”

“I don’t think that’s how asthma works.”

Sam looked confused.

“And anyway,” Blaine said, standing up, “I don’t have asthma. I’m fine.”

Sam still looked hesitant. 

Blaine patted his shoulder. “Seriously, man, just make sure they don’t pick E.T. over Star Wars and I’ll be great.”

Sam clapped him back. “I got you. I can be very persuasive.” He winked and jogged back to the rest of his friends. 

Blaine took a few more deep breaths before turning back around to face Kurt. He was still sitting on the ground, wringing his hands. 

Blaine crouched down next to him. “Hey, are you okay?”

Kurt stared at his lap. “I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m okay. Are you?”

“I’m fine.” He held out his hands. “Help me up?”

Blaine didn’t let go even after they were both standing again, trying to make eye contact. “Hey, we’re okay, right? You seemed scared when I grabbed you.”

Kurt pulled his hands away, but Blaine didn’t let go. 

“Of course,” he said, giving a little half smile. 

Blaine thought it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m sorry for scaring you. I won’t do it again.”

Kurt shook his head. “No, don’t stop trying to surprise me, just, I don’t know, be a little louder next time, okay?”

“Okay.”

Blaine grabbed his face and gave him a quick peck. “Mmmm, I love you.” 

“You, too,” Kurt said, and went started washing his hands.

Blaine couldn’t help but feeling a little rejected. It took a lot less confidence to say ‘you, too’ than to say ‘I love you, too.’ It left out the who and what. At that point, it’s basically just a reflex. 

He left Kurt to his cooking and sat back down next to Sam. 

* * *

Quinn sat on the opposite side of the table as Tina that night. It wasn’t on purpose, but she kind of welcomed the change. It meant she could watch her the whole meal. 

It is a strange thing, to be together all the time. Not unwanted, just different. She noticed little things that would otherwise never come up. 

If they had moved halfway across the country from each other, Quinn would not know that Tina had a habit of brushing her teeth before she flossed (she claimed it is to check that she got everything) or that she cut bananas into slices before eating them (apparently to prevent choking). She especially would not have noticed that Tina was always paying attention to her own every move. It must be why she slept like a rock. Hours of being on edge can do that to a person.

So Quinn continued watching her, as she carefully ate like she was making a conscious effort not to spill any of the soup on herself. She watched her fingers tap a little on her glass, watched her laugh at Sam’s impression of Mr. Schue. It felt normal just to watch.

She could watch Tina forever. The way her cheeks puffed up when she smiled, the way her head tipped back when she laughed, the way her hands flew around when she was talking about something she was passionate about. 

It made her wonder. Tina laughed a lot. Would she get laugh lines around her eyes? Doesn’t everyone, eventually? She has dark hair. When it starts to gray, it will be very noticeable. How many years until that starts? Ten years? Twenty? Will she dye it or will she let the streaks grow out until her whole head is white? Will Quinn be around to see it? She hoped so. 

Maybe by then it will feel normal to do more than just watch.

* * *

Dinner had just been cleaned up and Puck was feeling restless. He was not used to having this much good food being readily available to him. Usually, if he wanted a home cooked meal, he had to make it himself. Having no dad and a single working mom meant they ate a lot of microwavable meals. He wasn't complaining about the change, though. It just meant he had more energy than usual. 

“Hey, I was thinking of heading out, blowing off some steam. I’ll be back,” he said, starting to stand up. 

“Oh, no you don’t,” Mercedes said, grabbing his arm and pulling him back down next to her. “We all know what that means and we’ve discussed this before. You can’t have anyone over.”

“Who said anything about someone coming over? Maybe I’d go to her place.”

“Still no. I’m not letting you go out on the streets by yourself at night. No way. This isn’t Lima. You don’t have a list of girl’s anymore who will put out for you anymore. You have to start from scratch again and there’s no way that’s starting tonight.”

Puck groaned. “You guys suck! Almost all of you can get some whenever you want, even if you choose not to. Why are you allowed to make my choices for me?”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “In case you haven’t noticed, none of us can exactly go at it when we don’t even have walls.”

“Oh, please, I went in your room that first night. You’re telling me that you and Finn were just planning on cuddling before I showed up.”

She blushed. “Yes, actually, but it wouldn’t be any of your business if we weren’t.”

“No, it is my business. You made it my business when you started policing me. If I can’t bring anyone back, then you shouldn’t be allowed to either. I can guarantee that no one wants to see that, nevermind hear it.”

“I actually agree,” Rachel said. She stood up. “Which is why I’ve decided to share my new discovery with you all.” She walked into her room and closed the curtain behind her.

“Whenever she does that, it’s not something good,” Santana said.

Rachel returned holding two small orange triangles.

“Are those...candy corn?” Puck asked.

“God I hope not,” Mercedes muttered darkly. 

“No,” Rachel thrust her hand in his face so he could get a better look. “They’re earplugs. I bought them the other day at the store and they work great. I can’t even hear Finn snore anymore.”

“That’s great, Rachel.” Santana said. “Congratulations on yet again solving a problem only you were having. Why should I care?”

“You should care because I bought enough for all of us. I was thinking we could wear them at night so we can all sleep easy.”

Santana pointed at her hand. “So you want me to wear those so you can have sex with Finn and I won’t know?”

Rachel blushed again. “No, of course not. I was just thinking that it could be good for all of us if we all had a little more privacy.”

“And so you can have sex with Finn.”

“Can we please stop talking about having sex with Finn?” Kurt asked, covering his face with his hands. 

Blaine patted him on the back.

“Yeah, I agree,” Finn said. “I didn’t even do anything.”

“Fine,” Santana said. “Let’s all just vote on it. All those opposed say ‘Aye.’”

The room was silent. 

“Aha, I knew we were all secretly perverts,” Puck said. He leaned back in the chair. “After all the crap you all have put me through, it turns out you’re all voyeurs, too.”

“Shut up, Noah!” Rachel said, brushing her hands through her hair. “It’s _really_ not about that, but I will admit the fact that I will feel more comfortable is an added bonus.”

“I still think it’s a bit weird,” Quinn said.

“You’re in a relationship, too!”

“I’m celibate.”

“Again?”

“What do you mean again? I’ve always been.”

“You have a child.”

“I also had a boyfriend. Things have changed.”

Tina smiled at her from across the table.

“It’s so weird that three people in this house are celibate by choice,” Finn said. “Like what are the odds that a quarter of us would at our age.”

“Who’s the third one?” Mercedes asked.

“You, Quinn, and Kurt, obviously.”

“Oh, sweetie.”

Finn looked confused. “What?”

“Finn…” Kurt said. “I’m not celibate.”

“Since when?” 

“Since none of your business. I really don’t want to talk about this with you.”

“Does Burt know?”

“Why on earth would I tell my father?”

“Because–”

“Boys!” Quinn shouted. “Who cares? We need to make sure everyone is on board before we make any decisions.”

“It’s only you who can’t decide,” Santana said. “We’re all cool with it. This is the second night in a row we have had one of these meetings and, I’m not gonna lie to you all, I find them _incredibly_ taxing. Also, I’ve never wanted to know any of Berry’s kinks and I feel like I need to take a shower now. Thanks for that by the way.”

“Fine,” Quinn said over Rachel’s shout of protest. “I’ll wear the earplugs.”

“Great,” Santana said, standing up.

“Wait,” Puck said. “I have an idea.”

“Now he has ideas.”

“What if we have a rotating schedule?”

“Excuse me?” Mercedes asked. “Absolutely no. That’s too far and gross.”

“No, hear me out. We could all have days where everyone leaves the apartment and–”

“That’s awful,” Tina said, cringing in on herself. “I know you have no sense of romance, but most people don’t want their friends to know exactly what they’re up to.”

“Everyone who thinks Puck’s idea sucks, raise your hand.”

Puck watched as everyone raised their hand. “Well, I think you all are just frigid.”

“Are not.”

“Are, too.”

“In what way?”

Puck pointed at Kurt. “He won’t let Finn talk about his sex life with him.”

“Yeah, because we’re brothers and it’s weird.”

“One day, you’ll regret that.”

“What are you even talking about anymore?”

“Okay, seriously you guys, at this point it’s just stupid,” Mercedes said. “We can’t live together if all we’re gonna do is fight.”

“I agree,” Santana said, smiling a little. “I suggest no more meetings.”

“Then how will anything get decided on?” 

“Rock, paper, scissors.”

“That’s stupid.”

“You’re stupid.”

“Guys!” Quinn shouted again. “That’s it. Meeting adjourned. From now on, meetings are canceled. Happy?”

“Great,” Santana said, once again being the first one out.

Slowly, everyone followed her example, muttering to their significant others.

Rachel went around from room to room delivering earplugs before returning to her own room for the night.

Puck smiled to himself. He got out of bed and slipped out the door. 

At least now he could leave without anyone stopping him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought. Thanks for reading!


	6. The Bubble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barriers are only as strong as the material they're made of. They're also only as noticeable, too.

Sam gently pried Mercedes’ fingers off his arm. She wasn’t a light sleeper, but he still didn’t want to wake her this early. 

It was so early that he was actually surprised to find other people awake. Kurt and Finn sat in the kitchen, pouring coffee and wiping their eyes. They both looked at him as he approached. 

“Can I get some of that?” he asked. Finn got another mug from the cabinet and handed it to him. It was the one Rachel had gotten made custom, covered with a collage of pictures of herself. 

Sam smiled at it. She was a cute kid.

Kurt poured him some coffee and yawned. 

Sam noticed the bags under his eyes. “Dude, you look like death. Did you sleep at all last night?”

Kurt shrugged. “I tried to. I got like an hour.”

“What’s up?” Sam asked, taking his first sip and cringing at the bitterness. He reached for the sugar. 

Kurt shrugged again. “I just keep having these dreams. I feel like I’m trapped. Then I wake up and Blaine’s weighing me down, and I start to panic.”

“You should tell him to stop, then.”

“Maybe.”

They were silent for a few minutes. Sam kept adding different amounts of sugar and coffee, trying to get the ratio right. He always used to use the same mug every morning. This new one had different dimensions and it was throwing him off.

The other two watched his struggle. 

“This is kinda familiar,” Finn said. “You and your perfect ratio. Reminds me of when you first moved in.”

Sam smiled. When Burt and Carole had first taken him in at the start of senior year, it had taken a lot of adjustments. He was used to moving around from place to place, but getting a whole family was new. He didn’t regret his choice, though. The growing pains were worth it to be back with his friends.

“I was so nervous, man, you have no idea. Your dad is really intimidating. I swear he didn’t smile at me for a month.”

Kurt rolled his eyes, but the corners of his lips quirked up a little. “Oh, please. He loved you. Between your southern charm and love of football he never stood a chance. My dad is easy to please.”

“I guess. He let me call him Burt. Was that a good sign?”

Finn nodded. “Oh, definitely. He’s revoked my first name privileges before. It wasn’t pretty. Or fun to have to relearn to call him ‘Mr. Hummel.’”

Sam grinned and grabbed their shoulders. “I guess this makes us like brothers.” He pulled them into his chest a little.

“More like we’re brothers,” Finn said, gesturing between Kurt and himself.

“And you’re an exchange student who we haven’t been able to shake,” Kurt finished.

Sam pushed both their smiling faces away. “You guys suck.”

* * *

“We’ll be right here when you're done, okay?” Quinn asked, eyeing Mercedes as if she were her child. 

Mercedes pat her arm. “I know, Quinn, it’s fine. God, you have one scarring incident and all of a sudden everyone cares.” She rolled her eyes and marched into the hair salon. 

“Alright, then,” Tina said, grabbing Quinn’s hand. “Our turn.”

Quinn looked around. The street was deserted. She tugged on Tina’s hand a little and began walking across the street with Brittany, Mike, and Tina trailing behind her. 

“And why didn’t she want to come with us?” Mike asked. “I feel bad leaving her alone.”

“She said that she thinks the place we’re going would mess it up–” 

“Comforting.”

“–and what she wants is really specific. She wanted some place specialized.”

They reached the entrance to Orange Salon, and Tina let go of Quinn’s hand to check them in. 

“What are you getting?” 

“I don’t know yet. I'm just going to tell the hairstylist to do whatever they want,” Mike said, holding out his phone. “Will you take a before picture?”

She took the phone. “Afraid they're going to mess it up?”

“Maybe.” He held out his arms. “Get in here, guys. C’mon group photo. This is an important moment. We’re finally shedding our Ohio roots.” 

Quinn and Brittany crowded into him, and she held the phone above their heads on selfie mode. She watched Tina return to them and stand on her tiptoes behind Mike. 

“You’re so tall,” she told Mike, flattening down his hair. 

“You’re just short.” 

“I am 5’4”. That’s average for a woman in America.”

“Hmmm,” Mike hummed.

“Guys, smile!” Brittany said, placing a palm under her chin. 

Quinn snapped three quick photos and gave the phone back to Mike.

She played with the ends of her hair while the rest of her friends looked through the pictures. The plan had been to get a trim, but a little surprise never hurt anyone.

“Hey, Tina?”

* * *

Tina plopped down in the chair the stylist had led her to. She watched herself in the mirror as the stylist ran her hands through her hair, trying to gain enough courage to ask for what she really wanted. 

“Hi, my name is Kathy,” the stylist said, catching her eye in the mirror. “I’ll be in charge of taking care of you today. What kinda thing did you have in mind? Just a trim? Some highlights?”

“Ummm,” Tina glanced to her right. Quinn was right next to her, also having her hair played with. “Actually, I’m choosing what she’s getting, and she’s picking for me. Can I write it down? We wanted to surprise each other.”

“Of course.”

Tina quickly typed it out on her phone and showed her screen over her shoulder. She watched Quinn do the same as Kathy considered her request.

“We can do that.”

“Great,” Tina said, and looked back forward as she was slowly lowered over the sink. 

Her hair was wet and being brushed out when Kathy decided to start a conversation. 

“We get a lot of this kind of thing. Girls choosing each other's hair.”

“Really?” Tina asked. She had thought her and Quinn were being original. Then again, gay couples were probably more common in New York. 

“Oh, yeah. It’s usually mothers and their daughters or brides and her maid of honor, but friends are pretty common, too.” Right. “It’s amazing that you trust your friend enough to pick your hair. I would never.”

Tina took a deep breath. She had promised herself that as soon as she got to New York, she would stop hiding. “Actually, she’s my girlfriend.” Kathy blinked in surprise and made eye contact in the mirror as if to check if she was kidding. “We’re dating. I mean, I guess we’re also best friends, but–”

“I’m sorry for assuming. That was...incredibly unprofessional of me.”

Tina tried to smile at her through the mirror, but Kathy was pointedly just looking at her hair. She wanted to look at Quinn for reassurance but refused to be the one to ruin the surprise, so instead she just closed her eyes as the first inch of her hair was cut off. 

It was silent for the rest of the appointment. 

* * *

Quinn was feeling better by the time Mike led her outside. He held his hands over her eyes, still having no idea what Tina or herself looked like. She was a little nervous. Luckily, the nerves blocked out the memories of the awkward tension earlier. It was almost all but forgotten when she heard Brittany lead Tina over to her. 

“Is she here?” Tina asked. “Can I look?”

Quinn reached her hands out toward the voice. “I’m right here.”

She felt Tina’s hands reach out, blindly tapping at her torso. 

“Ready?” Quinn asked, putting her hands over Mike’s. 

“Yeah. On Three?”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

Quinn ripped Mike’s hands off like a blindfold and got an eyeful of her girlfriend. “Oh my god.” She covered her mouth with her hands. 

For as long as Quinn had known her, Tina had never had hair shorter than her mid back. She hoped Tina would not kill her for chopping it all off. 

It still had an inch or two on all sides, maybe four inches on top where it was the longest. It was exactly what she had asked for. 

“Oh my god,” she repeated, and reached out to run her hands through Tina’s hair. “You look so adorable. It’s perfect.” 

Tina was also brushing through her hair, eyes wide. “Yours looks so good, too. It’s very early senior year, just more...you.”

That was not what she was hoping to hear. Her hair had felt lighter and shorter during the walk from the chair to the outdoors, but she had not really thought about what she looked like, caught up in the uncomfortable tension and her nerves about Tina’s reaction. 

She pulled a piece of her hair into her eye line. “It’s...pink.” She pulled out her phone to look at her reflection. 

Tina seemed suddenly nervous, too. “Yeah, that’s why it took so much longer than mine. They had to bleach and dye it. Do you hate it?” 

Quinn tried to respond, but Tina was still rambling.

“It reminded me of last year, remember? When you asked me to dye your hair bright fuschia so you would ‘look like a lesbian’ or whatever? It was one of our first dates. I just thought it was cute, but the pastel would go with your clothes a bit more so–”

Quinn put her hands on her shoulders to quiet her. “Tina! Tina, I love it. I never would’ve chosen it for myself, but you’re right. It’s very...me. Or at least the me I’d like to think I am.”

They made eye contact again, and Quinn remembered Tina had not seen her own hair yet. 

“Here.” She thrust her phone into her face.

“I didn’t–oh, it’s not too bad.” Tina said, beginning to push her bangs around. 

“Not _too_ bad? What do you mean? You don’t like it?”

“I like it. I just expected a bit more, you know. You were really insistent that we made big changes.”

“Big changes? Your hair is _gone_ , Tina.”

“You know who else’s hair is gone?” Brittany asked. Quinn looked at her for the first time since before the haircuts started. She had gone simple, a long layered bob. It would take a while to grow back, but it wasn’t a dramatic change. 

“Yours?”

“No, Mike,” she said, pointing behind Quinn.

Quinn whirled around. 

Tina did the same. She covered her mouth at the sight of their friend. “Mike, what did they do to you?”

“I’m asking myself the same thing.”

His hair was not just shorter like Tina’s. It was just gone, shaved down to less than a centimeter on all sides. 

“At least it’s even?” Tina suggested, shrugging.

“It’s...a learning experience,” Mike said. “And what I learned to never trust anyone, even professionals with years of training.”

“At least it feels cool,” Brittany said, rubbing his head. “Like a coconut.”

He ran a hand through her hair, too. “Thanks.”

* * *

Mike had figured that Mercedes would be waiting for them when they got back to her salon, but she texted him saying her hair was only about halfway done, so they decided to go to a coffee shop across the street to wait. 

“I really don’t know how we are going to make rent,” Quinn said. “I mean, I get that not all of us have parents who can pay our share, but most of us don’t have jobs.” 

“I know,” Mike said, throwing his hands up. “I don’t even know what job I’d do though. I don’t really have any marketable skills besides dancing.”

“Oh please,” Tina said. “You’re smart, strong, well behaved, and easy on the eyes. Pretty much every job is looking for that. We just need a thousand per month for rent and utilities.”

“Oh, just a thousand?”

“Shut up.”

“Besides,” Quinn said. “We live in New York City. You can pretty much find any job you want. You could be a tutor or a server or–”

“A stripper,” Brittany said, patting his arm. 

“If you want.”

“Hey,” Tina said, looking out the window. “Mercedes is done.”

Mike followed her gaze outside and, sure enough, there she was, scanning the street. 

They all stood up and hurried outside. 

“Hey, hey, Mercedes,” Brittany said, waving her arms. “Look what they did to Mike’s head!”

Mercedes looked both ways before rushing across the street to greet them. “You guys look so good! Even you Mike.”

He shook his head. “Thanks. Now you–you look amazing.”

She blushed. Her hair was carefully sectioned off and weaved into a series of tiny braids that were folded into a large donut bun on the crown of her head.

“You look like a Disney princess,” Tina gushed, folding her hands under her chin. 

Mercedes squinted at her. “You look...different than I thought you would. I thought you were just getting some highlights?”

“Quinn picked for me.”

“I can tell you picked for her, too.” Mercedes looked at Quinn. “She used to tell me that she wished you hadn’t gone back to blonde.”

Quinn fiddled with her hair.

Mike offered to let all the girls feel his head. 

Mercedes laughed at the sensation. It echoed between the buildings and all the way down the street.

* * *

When Mike woke up the next day, he was even more nervous than he had been the day before. 

First of all, it was the day of his optometrist appointment, and he had never been to any doctor by himself before. His mom was always also at the office if not in the examination room with him. 

Second, there’s the fact that he might need glasses. It was basically a given at this point. He had tried on Artie’s glasses periodically throughout the day yesterday and all signs point to visual impairment. 

Third, and least unpleasant, but somehow most stressful, was the fact that only Blaine would be accompanying him. Now, Mike considers himself to be a social person. Not Puck levels, but he was pretty well known back at McKinley. 

And it was not that he did not like Blaine, more like they had never spoken before, and Mike was not the best at one-on-one conversations. He didn’t have much of a choice, though. Besides, Blaine seemed to be a chatty dude. It couldn’t be too awkward. 

But it was. They had taken a train for half an hour in almost silence and still had another half hour walk to look forward to. 

Blaine had tried starting a conversation a few different times, but Mike kept shutting him down by accident. 

The first time, Blaine asked him if he was planning on getting a job. Mike told him he had already talked with everyone about it yesterday, but that he was still thinking about it. Blaine must have taken that as a sign he was not in the mood to talk because he dropped the topic and stared off into space. 

The second time was about ten minutes later. Blaine turned to him again and asked why they had never hung out before. Mike told him it was probably because they didn’t have a lot in common. It had sounded nicer in his head. 

So now it was up to Mike to prevent today from getting any worse. 

“How are you liking New York?”

Blaine looked pleased to be spoken to. He skipped once, then returned to normal walking. “It’s been really...different, I guess. Everyday is a lot to get used to. I think I like it, though.”

“Me, too.” 

* * *

There was a lull, but Blaine still hoped this meant the train ride had been a misunderstanding. He thought back to the research he had done are starting conversations. Most experts had agreed people like talking about themselves. Family is always a good place to start.

“You’re an only child, right? Must be weird living with all these people now.”

Mike took his hands out of his pockets. “You have no idea. My parents told me I was crazy when I told them our plan. They even backed out of paying my rent. We’re actually holding up a lot better than I thought considering a lot of us are only children.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah. Rachel is the biggest surprise. She’s the most only child person I’ve ever met, but I don’t think half of them have any siblings either.”

“What are the odds of that?” 

“Pretty low. You got any?”

“Yeah, a brother, but we aren’t close.”

“That sucks, I’m sorry.”

Blaine shrugged. “It’s cool. He’s a lot older.” 

“How are you doing living with everyone?”

“Not as bad as I thought, like you said.” People like it when you relate to them, right? “I mean, it’s been difficult. I’m not really in with all you guys yet.” Too much. “But I get it. I’m just kind of Kurt’s boyfriend right now.” Worse. 

Mike clapped his shoulder. “It’s not your fault. You’ve been doing good, actually, I think. We’re all just kind of used to each other. It’s not just you, though. I feel like that sometimes, too.” 

That actually took him aback. “Really?”

Mike took a deep breath. “The thing about the New Directions–any group really–is that we’re a group of friends, and we all love each other, but within the group, there’s subsections.”

“Like...couples? Or best friends?”

“Sort of? It’s more like...a bubble.”

“A bubble?”

“Yeah, a bubble. A bubble you're either in or you’re not and there’s no in between. Those in the bubble, they’re running this whole thing. The rest of us are just watching from the ground.”

Blaine had no idea where he was going with this, but it got him talking. “So you’re out. Who’s in this bubble? Rachel, I’m guessing. Finn?”

Mike nodded. “They’re basically the leaders.”

“And probably Quinn then–”

Mike held his hand up. “Not necessarily. The bubble is a New Directions exclusive thing. Outside popularity has no value in it. Quinn may have been in the bubble at some point, but I’d argue she dropped out senior year when she started dating Tina.”

“So Tina’s also not in the bubble?”

“Yes, exactly. She didn’t pull Quinn out, but she did make her more...sated, I guess. You have to be really going for it to be in.” 

“Mercedes?” 

“Probably in. She fluctuates, but right now, definitely.”

“Brittany?”

“No, but Santana yes.”

“Artie?”

“No.”

“Sam?” 

“Yes.”

“Puck?”

“Same as Quinn.”

This ingroup dating was starting to get out of hand. “I didn’t know him and Tina dated.” 

Mike waved a hand. “Don’t worry, they didn’t. Puck just kinda got bumped out when Quinn was.”

“Oh,” He did not want to ask, but he felt like he had to. “Kurt?”

“He’s in. Definitely.”

Blaine looked at the ground. “And I’m out.”

“For now.”

“It’s like a modern day Romeo and Juliet.” 

They smile at each other. 

“So what do I do with this information?” Blaine asked. “Is there like a chart I can look at?”

Mike shook his head. “Not much really. The most important thing I can tell you about the bubble is that you can’t even tell when you’re in it, only when you’re out. If I tried to explain this to Rachel she’d think I’m insane.”

“I think you’re insane. Those guys love you.” Blaine still felt like he was not getting Mike’s point. He tried to think back to Kurt talking about New Directions meetings. He had mentioned several times feeling like he was on the outs. How could he possibly be in the bubble? How could Mike not be? How could Mike possibly put them on the same level of closeness? If Mike was outside the bubble then Blaine must be inside the house.

“You don’t really get it. It’s hard to explain. No offense, but it’s weird that you’d be involved at all. It’s kind of a New Directions thing. The bubble was an idea that Tina and I had back when we were dating. Basically its ranking is a combination of Mr. Schue’s favorites and just general Glee Club leadership.”

“Well, Mr. Schue isn’t here anymore and we’re all a team now. The bubble is over. There’s no more solos to fight for or duets competitions or even New Directions. It’s over. We’ve all graduated. We’re all equal now.”

Mike just shook his head again. “It’s–how did Tina put it? It’s the natural order. You’ll see. Or maybe you won’t. It depends on how well you fit in once we’re all settled.”

Blaine felt like he understood now, but in a detached sort of way. “I’m not interested in this weird caste system. People change, and I bet that by this time next year, you’ll have forgotten completely about this whole thing.”

He wanted Mike to take him on his bet, but he just kept smiling. 

“Maybe.” 

* * *

“I really don’t think glasses are for me,” Mike said, fiddling with the earpieces of a pair that was vaguely reminiscent of Artie’s. 

His and Blaine’s appointments were both over, and they had both been told they would need some sort of visual aid. 

Mike had looked at his chart and found negative numbers. He did not know what they meant, but apparently he was so far sighted his license might be revoked. 

He tried on another pair just for fun. “They’ll just fall off while I’m doing flips anyway.”

“Then get contacts,” Blaine said, pushing up the tenth pair of gold-wired glasses. “What do you think of these?”

Mike rolled his eyes. “Dude, they all look the same, I swear. Just get the biggest ones. They’ll have the most range.” 

Blaine pointed at him. “You, sir, are a genius.”

“I try.”

* * *

When Blaine told everyone the news, none of them even pretended to be shocked. 

“I can’t believe you decided to get glasses,” Sam said from his spot next to him on the couch. “You’ll look even more like a nerd than usual.”

“Not true.” Blane pulled out his phone. “These are the ones I chose. Thin rimmed, gold wire, very tasteful.”

“I stand corrected. You’ll look more like an old man than usual.”

“Thank you.”

Sam clapped his shoulder.

“Wait, let me see.” Kurt looked over his shoulder and grabbed the hand holding the phone to steady it. He studied the picture for a moment. “I like it. They’re very...Chicken Little.”

“Hey!”

“In a good way.”

“I’m starting to get the feeling that you guys don’t like my glasses.”

* * *

“I can’t believe classes start in two days.”

“I can’t believe they needed seven people to get food.”

“I can’t believe–wait, what is this?”

They all turned to look at Santana. She was standing in front of the fridge, glaring at a piece of paper with the words ‘Stop Singing’ scribbled in big lettering along the top. 

“What do you mean?” Tina asked, getting up from the couch to stand and see what she was looking at on the fridge. 

Everyone else followed behind her.

“It’s a sign,” Quinn said. “Someone’s upset.”

“And they want signatures,” Tina added.

Santana felt offended. “I thought we agreed on no more rules.”

“We agreed on no more meetings,” Kurt pointed out. “Whoever made this found a loophole, I guess. They decided there was too much singing, apparently.”

“I honestly thought there’d be more singing,” Blaine said. “It’s been underwhelming considering we were all in show choir.”

Santana picked up a pen and wrote her name down. “Well, I agree with whoever made this. Berry’s wailing got old two years ago. Her at home concerts manage to be even more grating.”

Kurt nodded and accepted the pen from her. “We really need to talk to her about that.” He wrote his name under hers.

“Aww, guys,” Tina said. She pressed her hands over her heart. “It’s like when we all signed up for Glee club.”

Santana looked disgusted. “Except not really. Quinn, Britt, and I never signed up. We just asked to audition and Mr. Schue was desperate.” 

“And I was never in Glee club,” Blaine added. 

“And this petition is actually the opposite of everything Glee club stood for.”

Tina put her hands down. “Can I never just have a nice time?”

Brittany pat her back.

They all signed except Blaine and Tina and sat back down on the couch. Santana was confident the motion would pass. Once everyone else got back the vote would be decided by a 7-6 majority. Besides, it could be worse. There was a lot less arguing when it was on paper.

She basked in the silence for a moment. 

“Okay so I have a question,” Blaine said, resting his arms on the table. 

Santana rolled her shoulders, trying to ease their tension. “Neat.”

“I was walking with Mike, and he mentioned that Quinn lost popularity once she came out at McKinley, but that Santana stayed the same in your weird hierarchy. I haven’t been at a public school in a while, but–”

Santana burst into laughter. “He said I stayed the same? Clearly, he’s not as smart as I give him credit for. The amount of comments I got on the daily were astronomical. Fresh, you got no idea.”

“And, I’m honestly lucky no one really paid any attention to me,” Quinn said. “It helped that I didn’t tell anyone about Tina and me outside of the New Directions, but everyone once in a while a guy would still proposition me. Not that the girls were much better. They just weren’t as outward with it.” 

“Did you report it?” Blaine asked. 

“Report it?” Santana laughed. She wasn’t sure why she felt so defensive. “Report what? I didn’t have any evidence, not that it would have helped. I know that you went to a fancy private school where your biggest crisis was unironed pants, but out here in the real world, we had actual problems.”

Blaine held his hands up. “Hey, I was just asking, and I don’t like the assumption that I’m sheltered. I transferred for a reason, you know.”

Quinn let out a breath. “I’m sorry. But to answer your question–”

“I never got to ask a question.”

“To answer your question, yes, McKinley was equally terrible to all of us.”

“In some areas,” Tina said. “I mean, not to compare trauma or whatever, but Kurt had to deal with it for longer, and his was more physical. Most of us girls got a lot of...comments.”

Santana rolled her eyes. “If by comments you mean guys taking turns yelling ‘That’s hot’ at Brittany and I whenever we so much as looked at each other, then yes, we got a lot of comments.”

“That’s sexual harassment,” Blaine said.

“No shit.”

“So, wait, you do know what sexual harassment is?” Kurt asked him. 

“Yes of course. Why?”

He looked down at Blaine’s lips then back at his eyes. When Blaine had no reaction, Kurt sighed and answered, “No reason.” 

“Guys, what are we doing?” Quinn asked. She had a sad smile. “We shouldn’t be trying to play ‘Who Had it the Worst’ or worry about what might have been what. I’m trying to move forward.”

“We all are. It’s just hard sometimes.”

“Is something bothering you?” Blaine asked, taking his hand. 

Santana looked at Brittany. She seemed to be spacing out. “He’s fine, Blaine. He’s just like that sometimes.” 

There was a silence.

Santana was sick of this conversation. Luckily, Kurt seemed to be, too.

“Do you guys think it’s some kind of gay stereotype that we can’t handle getting food, or was this just a coincidence?”

Santana cracked a smile. 

Quinn scanned the room and began giggling. The room slowly warmed up until all of them were hysterically laughing. 

There were sounds outside the door and it opened to reveal the rest of their friends holding chinese take out. 

Finn was at the front, looking confused. “What did we miss?”

Santana steadied her breath enough to respond. 

“Nothing you could understand.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for this week! Let me know what you thought.  
> Their still struggling and (spoiler alert) they will be for a while.


	7. Everyone Sucks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People are collections of those they love.

Puck skipped up the stairs to the apartment, too excited to bother trying to maintain his usual indifference. After weeks of interviews and tests, he’d finally done what none of his friends have been able to: get a job. 

“Guess what?” he asked, throwing the door and looking at his friends expectantly. They all continued with their tasks without much enthusiasm. 

“You’ve christened your first New York apartment?” Santana suggested. “Because I’m not gonna lie, it took you longer than I expected.”

Mercedes scoffed and shuffled her papers around. “No, that happened when he snuck out a few nights ago, remember? I’m guessing first vandalism.”

Satana hummed her agreement.

Puck was offended. “First of all, I don’t appreciate you stereotyping me.”

Mercedes rolled her eyes and continued color coding her binders.

“Second of all, neither of those things. I got myself a job. A real job. I’m gonna have to pay _taxes_.” 

“Hold up, you weren’t paying taxes before?”

“For what?” He thought those were just for office jobs. 

Santana threw her head back with laughter. “I now understand why you’re not going to college. What are you? A waiter? Is this God’s revenge for all those times we dined and dashed?”

Everyone laughed except for Puck. 

He screwed his face up. “For your information, I’m shadowing an HVAC technician while I get my certification.” He’s not the only one not going to college. It’s not fair that he’s the only one that gets it slammed in his face. “Besides, Brittany and Kurt aren’t going to college either. At least I have something to do except sit around the house all day.” 

“Hey,” Santana said, “She will have a job soon, right babe?”

“Yeah, the guy at the radio station said he’d let me know any day now.” Brittany held up her little FM radio. “I’ve been listening nonstop since then.”

Santana patted her hand, smiling.

“And for your information,” Kurt said, lifting his laptop. “I’m looking for work right now. It’s just hard to find something that has potential.”

Puck didn’t care. “Doesn’t matter, guys. Face it, I’m the only one doing anything worthwhile around here and you all are just jealous.”

They all looked annoyed now. 

“Fine,” Finn said, throwing his hands up. “Congrats, man. Is that what you want to hear?”

Puck turned around and left the way he came in, slamming the door behind him. 

* * *

Mercedes was in her room, putting her bag away when Kurt approached her for the first time in days. He had been avoiding her pretty blatantly. It’s hard to pretend that is not what is going on when someone you live with will not even look at you. 

“Hey, can we talk?”

She sat down on her bed. “Always, what about?”

He sat down next to her and held out his hand. 

She took it and rested their hands together on her lap. 

He took a deep breath. “What you said the other day...about Karofsky. Why did you tell me that?” 

She recoiled a bit at his tone. He almost sounded mad. That had not been what she expected. “Why did I tell you? Because it’s what you needed to hear. You can’t live like that. You can’t think about what he did to you the way you were. It’s not fair.”

He squeezed her hand hard. It reminded her of when Quinn had nearly broken her fingers during labor. 

“A lot of my life hasn’t been fair. A lot of your life hasn’t been fair. That doesn’t mean that–” He paused. “–that I’m what? A victim?”

Mercedes tried not to let her frustration show. She has been trying her best to be supportive, but she draws the line at taking blame. “I don’t care what you call it. It doesn’t matter. At this point, it matters more how you deal with it. You can’t pretend this hasn't been affecting you. I’ve been watching. You don’t sleep unless someone else is already awake, you don’t eat unless someone’s watching, you’re on alert 24/7. You can’t live like this.” 

Her voice changed to a stage whisper, mindful of the rest of their friends a few feet away in the living room. “You can lie to yourself, and to Finn, you can even lie to Blaine, but you can’t lie to me. I _know,_ and I want to help you, but you can’t blame me for this. I didn’t do anything except point out the obvious.”

She stood up and looked down at him. He was avoiding her eyes again, so she grabbed his other hand and held both of them in hers like she was begging. “What do you want from me? I can drop it, but it’s never gonna go away unless you deal with it. I think you know that.” 

He nodded and looked up at her. His eyes were glassy. Her heart sank. 

“I know. I’m sorry.” He sniffled, and she pulled his head to her chest. They held onto each other for a couple seconds before she let go and sat down again. “I just can’t stop thinking about it, and I think everyone’s starting to notice, too. I don’t know what to do.”

“You could tell them?”

He gave her a watery laugh. “No, not yet. I don’t even know what to think about it yet.”

“They can help you figure it out.”

“Or they could make it worse. When I told Blaine, he barely even reacted.”

She waved away his concerns. “Yeah, _two years ago_. That boy is just as clueless as you are, I swear. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“He could start acting differently. Like he’s scared of me–scared for me.”

“Maybe, but maybe things should be different. You did hit him the other day. That can’t happen again. And I think you know that.”

“Please don’t tell anyone,” he whispered. 

She patted his hair. It was soft to the touch. He hadn’t used any products today. Another change. “I won’t, I promise. Just start taking better care of yourself? You’re starting to rub off on me. I haven’t eaten a vegetable in two days.”

She felt his hands relax a little. “Thanks, Mercedes.” He smiled at her and rubbed her arm. “I’ll work on it, I promise.”

“Just don’t take too long. You really shouldn’t elbow Blaine again.”

He shoved her gently. “Shut up.”

“I honestly think he was into it. He kept staring after you afterwards. I don’t know, Kurt, you might have–”

He cut her off by smothering her into the bed with Sam’s pillow. Her laughter was so loud Sam rushed in to make sure she wasn't hyperventilating. It felt good.

* * *

Quinn kneeled with Tina next to their bed. She was looking through the clothes stored in their rolling crates, pulling things out at random and holding it up to herself. It was their first day tomorrow and their outfits needed to be perfect. 

Tina groaned, giving up on her crate and beginning to go through Quinn’s. She didn’t seem satisfied with that either, though. “It’s totally not fair that you’re both tall and slim. None of these clothes would fit me right.”

Quinn scoffed and held up a pastel yellow sweater in front of her chest. “Oh, please, you can wear anything. Besides, I don’t think I could pull off your mix of bright colors and neutrals. I’d totally be washed out.”

Tina took the sweater and held out a lacy black sheer top and a white tank. “Trust me, you’ll look _great_. Between the pink hair and clear skin, you’ll look like every baby lesbian’s wet dream.”

Quinn shook her head but accepted the clothes and began getting changed. “Ah, yes. My target demographic: high schoolers with identity issues.” She watched through the mirror as Tina got changed, too. “I’ll wear this tomorrow if you promise to wear that.”

Tina popped her head through the top of the sweater. “Deal. As long as you promise to carry me home when I die from heat exhaustion.”

Quinn hummed and leaned in for a kiss. Her heels meant she had to bend down farther than usual and the angle was a little off, but it still felt the same.

She pulled back but kept their foreheads pressed together. “As long as you agree to bail me out if I’m arrested for public indecency.” 

She watched Tina’s eyebrows crease together. She pulled herself back up to her full height as Tina ran her eyes up and down her body.

“What do you mean?”

Quinn held her arms up. “You don’t think this is a little inappropriate? We’re gonna be at a _school_.”

Tina crossed her arms. “I wore that to school, remember? Man, high school really did a number on us. You are allowed to show off your shoulders, Quinn.” She began reorganizing her clothes in the bin.

Quinn looked at herself in the mirror. She watched herself run her fingers along the patterns on the shirt. It was itchy, but nothing she couldn’t get used to. “Yeah, high school. I don’t miss it.”

* * *

Mercedes stuck her head into Rachel’s room to find her pacing. “Are you ready for tomorrow? I will leave without you.”

Rachel put a hand on her chest to play with her necklace and sat down on the bed. “I’m ready. Just a bit nervous.”

Mercedes had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Memories of the New Directions debating who was in charge of dealing with Rachel’s issue-of-the-week last year crossed her mind. Not again. She couldn’t carry Rachel through another pep talk. “Me, too. There’s going to be a lot of new people there. I have to prove myself all over again.”

Rachel shook her head. “It’s going to be different, though. There’s no Mr. Schue to believe in me.”

Mercedes almost laughed. Was she kidding? “If you’re asking me to feel bad for you because you actually have to earn solos and roles, then I’m sorry, but that’s not gonna happen. I want nothing more than for things to be different.” She turned on her heel, ready to leave, but Rachel’s voice stopped her.

“That’s awful,” Rachel muttered. “You can’t be mad at me for being better than you. I never made Mr. Schue give me anything.” 

This time Mercedes actually did laugh. “What’s awful? The fact that I’m happy to finally be judged on my talent than my–my–I don’t even know. You weren’t more talented than me, or more committed, or nicer.” Mercedes felt her eyes water. She focused on keeping her voice even. Rachel’s face was blank. “I don’t know why Mr. Schue decided you and Finn were the only ones with any potential, but he gave up on the rest of us pretty early. You can’t be mad at me for telling you that you aren’t any better than me, or Santana, or Tina just because Mr. Schue told you so, and you can’t be mad at me for having enough confidence to tell you that to your face.” 

Rachel took a deep breath and pushed past her, out into the living room. “If I’m so awful, maybe you should just go alone tomorrow.”

Mercedes turned around to follow her with her eyes and noticed Santana, Tina, and Blaine watching her from the couch with sad eyes. Everyone one else was gathered around them or eavesdropping from their rooms. It was silent except for her heavy breathing and Rachel’s footsteps. 

Rachel put on her shoes and began to shrug on her coat. 

Mercedes’ annoyance started to sour with guilt. “I’m not saying this to be mean, and I’m not mad at you, but you can’t have everything you’ve ever wanted and expect me to feel bad for you, Rachel. Some people have real problems. You aren’t a victim in this.” 

Rachel flipped her hair over her coat. “Oh, and you are? Well, I’m sorry.” Her eyes swept over the room. “I’m sorry to all of you.” She opened the door. “Are you happy now?”

The door slammed before anyone could answer.

Mercedes let her tension go. The tears of anger turned to shame. “She always seems to get the last word.” It sounded more watery than she had hoped. 

Santana launched herself over the couch and put her arm around Mercedes’ shoulders. “God, she’s such a bitch. High school really doesn’t end for some people.”

Mercedes covered her eyes with her hands. “I’m sorry that you guys had to see that. I’m so embarrassed.” Her shoulders shook with quiet sobs. 

She felt someone else wrap her up in their arms. “It’s okay, it’s okay.” Sam.

“Yeah,” Quinn agreed, coming up next to her to join the hug. “You just said what we were all thinking.”

“Definitely,” Kurt said. “She needed the wake up call. You were a lot nicer than most of us would’ve been.”

She looked up. Everyone except for Finn gathered around her. Instead, he put on his coat and shoes and mouthed her an apology as he backed out the door with a little wave.

Mercedes understood. She was his girlfriend. It still stung a little. She clung to Sam a little tighter.

* * *

It was so hot out that Rachel regretted bringing a jacket. Her anger cleared her mind enough that she could ignore the heat in favor of internal ranting.

After everything she’d done for them, all the competitions she’d won, all the times she’d led the group, all the times she’d gone the extra mile, no one appreciated it. She was still the girl who people just put up with. 

She kept on a straight path, worried that if she made a turn she’d never find her way back. They still want her back, right?

She heard the faint sound that sounded almost like her name. It happened again, louder. She turned around. 

Finn ran toward her, trying to weave through groups of people with as much finesse as one could at his size. 

He finally caught up to her and pulled her into a hug. He didn’t slow down enough and she stumbled back a few steps. “It’s okay, Rachel. It’s okay.” 

She felt something hot and wet on her face that she realized wasn’t just her tears. Her anger was momentarily replaced with disgust. “Eww, Finn.” She pushed him off. 

He cringed. “Sorry.”

She removed her jacket and used it to wipe off her face. Her mascara wiped off, too, staining it with black smudges. 

“Great,” she said. “Now I need a new coat.”

Finn grabbed her hand and began pulling her back the way they had come. “Come on, let’s go back. We all have to live together. This storming out can’t happen anymore, and I know for a fact that you have nowhere to go. All your friends live in one place.”

She scoffed at him and pulled her hand from his grip. “Oh, yeah. My friends who _hate_ me and think I’m an entitled brat. I’m sure they all miss me so much. That’s why they’re all here. Or are they upstairs defending me?” She noticed people shooting them annoyed glances, so she lowered her voice before continuing. “I know I’m not the easiest person to deal with, but I thought things had been getting better over the past year. I thought we really were a family. Guess I’m an idiot for buying into all that crap Mr. Schue said.” 

Rachel kicked at the ground, feeling a bit like a child. 

He lowered himself so she had to look at his face. “Don’t give me that, c’mon. We’re close. Maybe not a family, yet, but that doesn’t just happen, you know? We have to work for it. You think Kurt and I were always this close? I know for a fact that you know for a fact we weren’t. Running away now...it doesn’t help anything. Whether you go back in there right now or a year from now it’s not going to change what happened.”

Rachel was still so angry, though. “And say what? Apologize? I didn’t do anything wrong.” She turned herself back around and began walking away again. 

Finn sighed, but she could tell he was following her by the sound of his footsteps. “Rachel, I’m saying this with love, but you are the most difficult person I’ve ever met.”

She whirled around. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“No.”

“Good, because it didn’t.”

He pulled her close again and put his head on top of hers. The body heat made her feel itchy, but she didn’t pull away this time. 

“You are the most difficult person I’ve ever met. You are selfish and loud and mean. You always say you’d rather be famous than have friends or family or even me.”

She backed up a little and looked up at him. “So you think Mercedes is right? You think I suck?”

He nodded. “I do. To be honest, I think we all suck. I think Sam sucks because he leaves his weights out for me to trip over all the time. I think Tina sucks because she ate my bread without asking. Hell, I think Mr. Schue sucks for pitting us against each other for so long that we started to see each other as enemies rather than teammates. We’re all selfish and loud and mean. The difference is they are all those things for each other.” 

This was just making her feel worse. She looked at the ground. He tilted her head back up, so they could maintain eye contact.

“I think you could be, too, and I think that’s who you want to be, deep down. I think their approval means more to you than anything, and you’re really just scared you’re never gonna get it, so you don’t even bother asking. ” He took her hands. “Maybe Mercedes is right, but she sucks, too, for making you cry. It’s like we’re a bunch of shitty paints and the New Directions was just the even shittier painting we all made together.”

Rachel smiled a bit. “That’s the worst metaphor I’ve ever heard.” She sighed. “Now what? Now I go back there, apologize, and pretend none of this ever happened? I still feel the same way. I worked so hard for what I have–too hard to be told it was all handed to me.”

Finn put his arm around her shoulders and began walking her back to the apartment. “You did work hard. They know that. They’re just mad because you never acknowledge that they worked hard, too. They’re just as insecure as you are, even if they don’t show it.”

They arrived at the apartment building. She had not gotten as far as she had thought. Finn removed his arm from her shoulders so they could run up the stairs.

She sniffled at the first landing. “When did you get so smart?”

He grinned down at her. “This is just stuff I’ve heard from Kurt and Mercedes over the years. The walls in my house are thin.”

They reached their door and Rachel knocked. 

Mercedes opened the door. There was a moment of hesitation before she pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry for what I said. You aren’t selfish and awful. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m just tense, and I took it out on you.”

Rachel laughed into her shoulder. “No, you were right. I’m sorry, too. You’re so talented and you deserved better. Most of the time.”

“You deserved what you got,” Mercedes said, pulling back. “Sometimes.”

She smiled and offered Mercedes her arm. “Can I have the honor of walking you to class tomorrow?”

Mercedes smiled back and wove her hand through the crook of her elbow, allowing Rachel to walk her into the living room. “It would be my pleasure.”

* * *

Puck stayed out until he was sure everyone was asleep. They all had classes tomorrow. No way they’d be up past ten. Besides, he was tired. In New York City, one can only sit in a park for so long before the weirdos start showing up. 

He unlocked the door as quietly as possible, slowly opening it to avoid any creaking sound. It didn’t matter. When he turned on the lights, it was to reveal all his friends sitting on the couch, watching his every move. 

No turning back now. “Damn it, guys. Don’t you have anything better to do than sit in silence in the dark together? Did you form a cult while I was gone?” He kicked his shoes at the wall, but no one flinched at the loud thuds. 

Rachel patted the empty seat in the middle of the couch. “Why don’t you join us, Noah?”

As slow as possible, he shuffled to the couch and fell over it into the seat she offered face-first. 

Rachel ran her hands through his hair. He’d been growing it out, so it was even on all sides.

“Due to recent events, I have come to the realization that I haven’t been a great friend recently.”

“What she means,” Santana said, “is _we_ haven’t been great friends recently. We’re all really sorry about this morning.”

“Yeah, man,” Finn said. “Congrats, but, like, actually.”

Puck straightened himself out so he was sitting upright. “I guess that I’m sorry, too. In a way.” 

“Apology accepted.”

“And,” Tina said, standing up. “We made you something.” She went to the kitchen to pick up a small sheet cake. She leaned over the couch to place it in front of him. It had vanilla frosting and the crooked words ‘You Did It, Man!’ was written in green icing. 

He smiled at it. “Guys, this is really lame.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Let me know what you think.


	8. The Times are Changing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Change is inevitable

Brittany watched from her spot on the couch as her friends rushed around her in a panicked haze. They yelled back and forth at each other, trying to help each other remember essential items and schedule times. 

Despite being the only one besides Brittany staying home, Kurt seemed most stressed. He had followed Mercedes around for most of the morning, quizzing her on class times until she got frustrated and told him to help Blaine who, admittedly, was struggling a bit more than her. 

Puck was the first to leave, sneaking out just after breakfast so he could report to his job at HVAC NYC and be at his first house for seven-thirty. No one else seemed to notice, though, being so wrapped up in their own stress.

Artie was next to go. Brittany watched him slip out with only a “bye!” yelled over his shoulder. Everyone else replied, seemingly by reflex.

Mercedes, Rachel, Finn, and Sam all left in an excited group. Mercedes and Rachel linked arms, almost squealing in excitement, yesterday's fight basically already long forgotten.

Quinn leaned down to give Brittany a quick kiss on the cheek and a warning to behave before grabbing Tina’s hand and rushing them out the door, claiming they were basically already late. Tina’s huff and rebuttal were cut off by the door slamming, but Brittany was pretty sure that Quinn was just being paranoid. 

That left the final three. Santana and Blaine both quickly kissed their significant others and bounced together to get their heels in their shoes. Mike gave both Brittany and Kurt a quick peck on the top of the head. Brittany was so surprised that she didn’t even notice everyone was gone until Kurt sighed and fell over the back of the couch next to her. 

“Now what?” he asked, staring up at the ceiling. 

“I don’t know,” Brittany replied. She put her head on his shoulder as gently as possible. “This has never happened before.”

He hummed and craned his neck to look at her. “Which part? Being alone in an apartment in New York? Or not having a first day of school with everyone else?”

“Both. It’s quiet.”

“Yeah.”

They sat in silence for a minute.

“So now what?” she asked again.

“Now we wait.”

For what? No one will be back for hours. Besides, she has not left the apartment in days, and she had it on good authority that Kurt has been here even longer. 

She stood up. “No way we’re sitting here feeling bad for ourselves.”

“I don’t feel bad about myself.”

“Sure you do.” She grabbed his hand and tugged it a little. “You should at least.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She tugged a little herder. “It’s really shitty to feel like you’ve been left behind. I know you’ve been upset lately.”

He still did not look convinced. 

“Come on. This’ll cheer you up. I promise.”

He sighed and stood, allowing her to shuffle him around the table towards the door. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.” The best idea occurred to her. It would be both fun and educational. “Just trust me.”

“Famous last words.”

* * *

Mercedes sat down for her first class of the day: Recital Practicum. She tried to appear calm despite her skyrocketing adrenaline. 

They had been told to have a song prepared for the first day, and, despite how well practiced she was, this was real life. Her achievements in this class were paving the way for her whole future. 

“Hey,” Rachel whispered in her ear. She was also jittering in her seat, though, it was probably from excitement rather than nerves. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah.” She wished she sounded a bit more confident. Luckily, Rachel did not have time to comment on it because the professor stood up and cleared his throat. 

“Goodmorning, welcome to the first class of your first day at NYADA. My name is Professor Mills, and I’ll be your vocal instructor this semester.” He spoke with a bored confidence as if he had seen this a million times before. It was so different from how Mr. Schue talked to them, all buoyant and energetic, that it made Mercedes sit up a little straighter in her chair. He was used to good. She needed to be great. 

“I’m hoping for your sake that you read your letters so you know that everyone will perform a little audition of sorts for me. It will not be graded, but it will determine where I place you.” His gaze swept the room. Mercedes' heart stopped when they flashed over her. “Who’s first?”

No one raised their hand. 

He sighed. “You guys always do this as if it’ll prevent you from going. By the final, you’ll be so used to performing for me it’ll be effortless.” Everyone was still silent. “Guess I’ll just have to pick someone.” He returned to his desk and ran his finger over a piece of paper, probably the attendance sheet. His finger stopped over a name. The room collectively forgot how to breath.

“Brady Whittle, you’re up first.” 

Mercedes slumped in her seat. It was going to be a long first day. 

* * *

“Brittany, why are we here?”

“What do you mean? This is like your version of Heaven! Besides, you vetoed my last choice.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m not sorry that I didn’t want to go to a strip club. Those poor women don’t want me there either, I promise.” 

“You love pole dancing! I’ve seen you do it before.”

“Brittany, it was closed! It’s eleven in the morning!” He threw his hands up in the air and started walking away. They might as well go get something to eat at this point. He was starving and they had no idea how to get home. “Are you coming?”

She followed after him, but was still insistent that they stay where they are. “Wait, no, I brought you here for a reason.”

He looked up at the building. It was so tall he could not see the roof. The walls were made seemingly only out of glass with only the tiniest bit of steel keeping it from shattering completely. In Lima it would have been the most modern and eye catching place for miles. Here, it just looked like every other skyscraper, except of course for the large Vogue insignia painted above the front desk. 

He allowed her to pull him to a stop to stare forlornly through the glass doors. “You know they don’t actually sell clothes here, right?” 

“I know, but you always said if performing doesn’t work out this is your plan B.”

She said it so earnestly Kurt’s frustration boiled down to pity. Whether it was for himself or her, he was not sure. “I know you’re trying to help and in your little world, this probably makes a lot of sense to you, but most of us can’t just walk into places and ask for a job.”

Kurt had never really seen her get mad before, and he probably never would, but her face came pretty close. “You’re being mean. I thought you’d like this.”

The pity was definitely for her. “I’m sorry.” He looked back at the building. “And you’re right, I do like this, love it, actually, but–”

“Great!” He did not like her smile reappearing so suddenly. “Then you have no reason not to go in there and ask to apply.” She tightened her grip on his hand to prevent him from running away. 

“Brittany, no–”

“I know you’ve given up on all your dreams, but I overheard Mercedes and Mike talking the other day and they said you need to pay rent, so...” He tried to pull out of her grip, but her years as a cheerleader and dancer made her freakishly strong.

“I’m not doing it and you can’t force me.” 

Random passerbyers were side eying them. They must have looked ridiculous, both leaning back as far as their held hands would let them. 

“If you don’t do it, I’ll scream.”

He watched the secretary flip through papers on her desk. “If you scream that nice lady will hear you and they won’t even let me apply.”

She stopped pulling and stomped her foot. “Why are you so against this? You can’t just sit around forever. I know you didn’t get into the school you wanted or your back up school–”

“People keep giving me these chats and they somehow make me feel worse–”

“–but I also failed! Some schools wouldn’t even accept my application–”

“They can do that?”

“–and I came here anyway and now look at me. I’m the newest intern at NYC Mix Radio!”

“Really?” He pulled her into a brief hug. “That’s so great!” 

Her eyes shined. “I know it is. So if I can do it with a .2 grade average, why can’t you?”

She had a point. Almost. His plan had been to get a job at a mechanics shop that was desperate enough not to ask for official certification, but where would that get him? Not a long term career or experience in a field he actually had interest in. It would make him comfortable and complacent, not happy. 

“Fine.”

She jumped excitedly. “Really?” Tentatively, she let go of his hand, not backing away in case he makes a run for it.

He doesn’t. “Yeah, fine.” He tilts his head up, puts his nose in the air, and pushes the door open without looking back.

* * *

“Ms. Rachel Berry? You’ll go next. Unless someone wants to volunteer for you?”

Rachel stood up, a confident smile on her face and sheet music in her hand. 

Mercedes raised her hand. “Actually, I wanted to go next if that’s okay.”

He waved his hand with a flourish towards the front of the room. “The stage is yours.”

She slumped back in her seat as Mercedes shuffled past her. 

* * *

Quinn stood up on a bench in the quad, trying to spot Tina’s long brown hair in the crowd. They had agreed to eat lunch together, but their plans had been a little vague in terms of a meeting place. There were so many girls that fit ‘long brown hair’ that Quinn almost gave up before remembering it had all just been chopped off. She hopped down from the bench and began searching again. 

“Quinn!” Someone grabbed her hand. She whirled around but, of course, it was only Tina. “Hey, jumpy, how have you been? I’m having the best day. No one’s shoved me or dumped trash on me or even asked me to do their homework for them.” 

She let herself relax. “I’ve been good. It’s a different energy than high school, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.”

“Used to it?” Tina started pulling her along towards John Jay Dining Hall. “I love it here. I got invited to this school's Glee Club. The girl I was talking to in Bio told me…”

Quinn didn’t mean to tune her out, but her mind was preoccupied with other things, namely feeling like the whole student body was watching her walk hand in hand with a girl through a crowded outdoor space. She tried to subtly loosen Tina’s grip on her hand, but the slight tug went unnoticed.

“I know, I know, we already discussed joining the acapella group to give us something new, but I don’t want us to limit ourselves. She seemed really nice and…”

They reached the dining hall. Quinn took the opportunity to hastily rip her hand from Tina’s grip, hoping she could use holding the door open as an excuse. Tina smiled at her polite little push through the doorway and retook her hand on the other side. Quinn tried not to groan out loud. Why was she so insistent they hold hands?

“Hey, I’m going to go to the bathroom to wash my hands before we eat. Save me a table?” she asked, looking down at their joined hands pointedly. Tina didn’t get the hint.

“That’s a good idea actually. I’ll go with you.”

“No!” she yelled. Tina took a step back. “I mean, no. It doesn’t make sense that we both go. You go wash your hands, and I’ll get us a table.” 

Tina shook her head. “Why can’t we just go together? There’s plenty of seating.” Great, now she looked annoyed, too. 

Quinn faked an exaggerated smile. “Fine! Fine, we can just go to school together, and lunch together, and the bathroom together. We might as well just share the same sink so you don’t have to let me go for two minutes!” She sounded borderline hysterical and she knew it, but she could not help herself. They had been standing way too close to the doors for over a minute now, forcing the droves of students going in and out to walk by them and glare at them even more than before. She started towards the bathrooms. “C’mon, roomie, wouldn’t want you to have time to yourself.”

Tina let Quinn pull her along, but still protested, “Is that why you’re acting like this? Am I smothering you? Do you want to eat lunch alone?” 

Quinn stopped so quickly that Tina walked into her. “No, I don’t want us to eat lunch apart.”

Tina still looked sad. “Then what is it? Is college not what you hoped it would be? I thought you got over wanting to be Queen Bee last year.” Her grip finally loosened enough that Quinn could pull her hand away. 

She did, feeling even worse when Tina’s expression dropped even more. 

“It’s neither of those things, I promise. I just...need a little space when we’re in public. I don’t like PDA.” She hoped Tina would let it drop. 

“You didn’t seem to mind with Finn or Puck or any of those guys.” Of course.

“We’ve been over this. They were all for show. My last attempt at a normal life.”

“Normal? Quinn–”

“Can we just not do this here?” she whispered. They were no longer blocking any major entrances or exits, but there were still people milling around near them. “We can talk tonight when we get back to the apartment, I promise.” 

Tina nodded, still a little distant but sated. 

Quinn mustered up a little smile. “Okay, let’s go wash our hands.”

They both kept a friendly distance until lunch ended, and they had to go their separate ways again. 

* * *

Mercedes finished the last note of “Listen” with a flourish, feeling her feet on the ground for the first time since she started. She had gotten a little lost in her own voice, remembering when she had realized the song was perfect for this moment. How it felt like it described what she felt about her life thus far. It had been as easy as opening her mouth and letting the passion spill out. 

She opened her eyes. Everyone was just watching silently. She took a deep breath, hoping the nerves she had pushed down as soon as the piano started would not return. She followed one of her classmate’s eyeline to the professor, who was watching with a blank stare. The same students took that as permission to start clapping, finally breaking the silence after what felt like years. Another joined in, then another, until everyone was clapping with cheesy smiles on their faces.

Mercedes tried to keep her smile down and bowed quickly before marching back to her seat, head held high. 

The clapping subsided. 

The professor’s expression did not change as he called for the next person, but not even his approval mattered to her at that moment. Not if she won over the crowd. 

She looked into the crowd, searching for Rachel to guide her back to her seat. Luckily, she spotted her shooting her hand up. Mercedes waved at her to put it down, but Rachel wasn’t looking at her. “I’ll go next, sir.”

“Come on down.”

They passed each other in the aisle. Rachel had not looked at her since before the performance started. Mercedes tried not to resent her for it. 

* * *

“How’d it go?”

“They have an internship open. I have to interview, and it’s unpaid, but–I don’t know. Thanks for making me do this. It felt good not to get a ‘no’ for once. Want lunch? It’s on me.”

* * *

Finn’s last class was crawling compared to his other two. He had hoped lunch would be enough of a break to get him through Chemistry, but the food made him tired more than anything. His pencil broke five minutes ago and he barely even noticed, much to the disappointment of his lab partner. She watched him with a respectful disdain, like she knew he was not going to be of too much help this semester, but was too polite to say that to his face. 

He did not like that. He gestured to her pencil sharpener. “Hey can I borrow that?” he whispered. She slid it to him. “Thanks.” 

She did not even glance at him.

“Hey, thanks.” 

She finally looked at him again. “I know.” He watched her expectantly. She rolled her eyes. “You’re welcome.” 

Well, that was rude. He had known it would take a while form any type of reputation around here, but he had figured it would at least be easy to get them to acknowledge him. 

He sharpened his pencil and slid the sharpener back over to her. She let it hit her arm without even flinching. 

* * *

Rachel fanned her eyes to keep the tears from trailing down her cheeks and ruining her makeup. She had not felt this good about a performance since the first time she sang  _ Don’t Rain on my Parade _ . Why she had chosen anything else for her audition for NYADA, she had no idea. 

The clapping came faster and easier than it had for Mercedes. Everyone was watching her with polite interest and...not much else. 

Rachel couldn’t help but feel disappointed at their subdued reaction. She had put her all into that song. Where was the awe? 

The professor hummed. “Next?”

Rachel stood there dumbfounded. 

“Unless you have anything else to show us, Ms. Berry?” 

Rachel quickly ran through her repertoire of Broadway hits she had performed to perfection over the years. None of them stood out to her as better than what she had already done. 

“No, sir.” She started back toward her seat. “Thank you for your time.”

She heard what sounded like a sigh. “Excellent. Next?” 

* * *

“We’re alone now.” Tina pointed out as soon as they settled into her spot on the couch for the night. Luckily, for her anyway, Columbia was closest to the apartment and Brittany and Kurt had found a way to keep busy for the day, so they were free to talk openly. “Are you ready to talk now?”

Quinn nodded. “Yeah. I promised didn’t I?”

“I’m just making sure.” Tina hesitated before taking Quinn’s hands again. She relaxed when she didn’t flinch away. “Is this okay?”

“It’s always okay. I’m just...more cautious than you. All we have to do is establish better boundaries.”

Tina didn’t like the way she was talking to her as if she was placating a child. “But you said once we got here we wouldn’t have to hide anymore. Even in school we didn’t always hide like this…” 

“No,” Quinn said sternly. She shook her head. “No, I was comfortable in Glee Club. That’s different and you know it. We never touched outside of that choir room, didn’t you notice that?”

Now Tina felt like a child. “Of course I noticed. It’s pretty hard not to. I just thought it was because that school was homophobic–”

“The whole is homophobic, Tina,” Quinn slipped her hand off the table and out of Tina’s grip. “Everywhere. Did you not see how everyone was staring at us today? That school was a dry run for the rest of our lives. I’ve accepted that. Why can’t you?”

“No one was staring at us!” She hated how her voice was getting a bit high pitched, so she changed tactics. “They were staring at you having a fit because I wanted to be close to you. You can accept the world at large is homophobic while still be open, Quinn. Santana and Brittany–”

“We are not Santana and Brittany, Tina!” 

Tina winced. 

She was starting to sound a bit hysterical again. “No matter how much I want us to be. You think I don’t want to hold your hand or kiss you in Times Square on New Years Eve surrounded by strangers? Hell, I’d settle for a deserted street without feeling afraid. I want to. So badly. But I’m not Santana. I’m not the type who can come up with comebacks on the fly, and I don’t have the kind of power to protect us anymore. I haven’t since the day I came out.” 

Her eyes were glassy. 

Tina felt her lip wobble. 

“If someone pushes me, I don’t push back harder. Not anymore. And neither do you. You never have. We need to be safe. When I first came out Kurt told me–”

“Oh!” Tina interrupted. She wiped at her eyes. “So we can’t be Santana and Brittany, but we can be like Kurt and Blaine who barely even make eye contact anymore.” She felt a bit bad for throwing their relationship under the bus, but, to be fair, they weren’t exactly the epitome of a relationship goal right now. “They seem like they’re on the verge of imploding, and you’re modeling our relationship after theirs?”

“They have...other problems,” Quinn conceded. “But in the broad strokes, maybe. I want us to be out girlfriends, but I also want us to be cautious. If someone asks, we’ll tell them we’re together, but the obvious stuff–the stuff that gets attention–I would prefer if, for now at least, we keep that to this apartment.” 

Tina didn’t like her tone. It was the same one she had used on her boyfriends when they asked her for more than she was willing to give. Still, the terms seemed reasonable. She gave a watery smile. “I’m going to seem like a real bitch if I say no to this, huh?” She sniffled. “I accept your conditions for as long as it takes for you to feel comfortable.” 

Tina let her body fall forward and rested her head on Quinn’s chest. She still wasn’t fully satisfied with the reasoning behind it, but there were no good alternatives. If this is what Quinn really wanted, this is how it had to be. It is hard to make a fifty-fifty compromise on your partner's hard limits. 

Quinn wrapped one arm around her waist and played with her hair with the other hand. “I might never be ready.” Her voice shook now that the adrenaline had worn off. “We might never–”

“If it’s never then I guess I’ll have forever to get used to it,” Tina promised. “It’s the same thing as the waiting until marriage pact, which I support one hundred percent by the way. I wait for you and in return, you give me something to wait for.”

* * *

Artie was not surprised to be one of the last people home. His school was the farthest away, and he didn’t have the luxury of being able to slip easily through crowds. Despite the long commute, though, he was in a good mood as he pushed open the door to be greeted by seven smiling people. They were all gathered in the kitchen cheersing each other and chattering in small groups. 

“Artie!” Sam grabbed a premade drink off the table and passed it to him. “How are you, man?” 

“Great!” The energy in the room buzzing so much it was almost contagious. He gestured to the drink. “What is this?”

Mercedes held out a bottle. “Sparkling apple cider. Kurt and Brittany got it to celebrate the big day.”

Artie surveyed the room. Brittany was trying to describe her day to Santana, something about stripping and internships. Santana nodded along as if it made perfect sense. 

Blaine, Mike, and Kurt were debating who had the better first day. Based on the way Mike and Kurt were still going at it, Blaine had already conceded victory and was content just to watch Kurt be excited about something for once. That or he was doing that weird respectful thing again. 

Artie scanned the rest of the place but no one else was in sight. “I thought I’d be home last.”

“You are,” Sam said. He tilted his head. “Except for Puck. He’s got the old nine to five. Rachel and Finn wanted to go on a walk together, and I only saw Tina and Quinn for like a second. I think they went for a nap.” He took a swig from his drink. “I don’t get how they can sleep at a time like this.”

Artie checked the clock. “Four?”

“No, dude.” Sam shook his shoulders. “There’s so much going on! Mercedes sang her first solo and absolutely brought the house down–”

“I did really good,” Mercedes agreed. Her smile had not waned since he got home. “Let’s just hope the professor thought so, too.”

Sam elbowed her gently. “He will, babe. Don’t even worry about it.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and made her join his gentle sway before looking back at Artie. “I had a great first day. They let me type my notes on a computer instead of writing them by hand, so now they are actually readable.”

Sam let go of her with one arm in order to point at Mike. “That guy had a great time in his classes. Apparently three people gave him their numbers.” Mercedes nudged his stomach. “Something that I am not jealous about by the way.” 

Mercedes laughed. “Not what I meant but continue.”

“Brittany and Kurt both got internships–”

“Potentially.”

“Potentially. Well, Kurt potentially. Brittany definitely got hers.” 

Blaine walked over to their little group to get more sparkling cider. Sam grabbed him and wrapped his free arm around his shoulders. He shook him a little and accidentally split the newly poured drink all over the floor. “This guy–wait what did you do?”

Blaine looked up from where he was staring at the spill. “Oh, I had a really great day.”

“He had a really good day!” Sam repeated with a bit more enthusiasm. He ruffled Blaine’s hair and winced a bit in disgust. “Gross, man.” He rubbed his hand on the back of Blaine’s shirt and pushed him away a little.

Blaine just laughed and let himself be pushed back to Mike and Kurt, spilling his drink a bit more. 

Sam pointed at Santana. “And that one?” He paused. “I don’t actually think she did that much either.” The wild look returned to his eyes. “But it doesn’t matter because today was a success on almost all fronts. What happened with you?”

Artie sipped his drink. “All my classes are great, everyone there is actually interested in stuff I like, and no one threatened to lock me in a bathroom stall, so basically it was heaven.”

It was cheesy, but Artie was feeling loose enough to let it go.

“I’ll drink to that,” Mercedes said, holding out her glass. “To heaven.”

All seven of them raised their glasses with her.

“To heaven!”

* * *

That night after dinner, everyone remained in the living room longer than they ordinarily would, laughing and chatting. 

Sam couldn’t help but revel in it. He really was doing it, going to college and making it on his own. No one ever told him he couldn’t, but his life had been a series of roadblocks up to this point. 

The easy conversation continued around him. Finn, Rachel, Quinn, and Tina lost their somber attitudes and joined in. Mercedes laughed from her spot tucked in under his arm. What she was laughing about he had no idea, but the sound was nice to hear regardless. 

The whole scene reminded Sam of the disastrous attempt at bonding that had been their Senior New Directions camping trip. The only part of that whole experience that was worthwhile was the campfire. Everyone had let go of their stress and frustration to just talk and laugh and sing along to songs Mr. Schue never would have allowed. It was a highlight of their Senior year that Sam would never forget. 

He got up and turned off the overhead lights, casting the room in darkness except for the candles. Some shouted their protests, but Sam ignored them and headed for his room to get his guitar. The room fell to a natural silence as he sat back down. 

“When I was really young, and I mean real young, my mom used to sing this song to me to get me to sleep, and then two years ago, when things got really bad for my family, I used to sing the same thing for my siblings at night when they’d get scared.” Everyone watched with peaceful smiles on their faces. “And I just figured it kind of applies now. I know we aren’t in Glee Club anymore and there is a new no singing rule–”

“It’s still pending,” Rachel said.

“A possible new no singing rule,” he conceded. “But I figured–”

“Just sing your song,” Santana said. She sounded exasperated but her bright eyes betrayed her. 

He readjusted his guitar and closed his eyes. 

_ Come gather ‘round people _

_ Wherever you roam  _

_ And admit that the waters  _

_ Around you have grown _

_ And accept it that soon _

_ You’ll be drenched to the bone _

He looked up to his audience. Puck and Finn grinned at him and joined in. No one besides them three seemed to know any of the words, but it didn’t matter. The rest of them cuddled a little closer and gently swayed together. Mercedes and Kurt picked up the candles from the table and rocked them back and forth. It made it hard to see what he was playing, but Sam didn’t mind. He has played this song so many times it is basically instinct at this point. 

_ If your time to you is worth savin’ _

_ And you better start swimmin’’ _

_ Or you’ll sink like a stone _

_ For the times they are a-changin’ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought.


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